Tuesday, January 19, 2010

"Put A Sock In It," Boys.... or go home!

Now I don't usually try and "knock a business" but like a lot of Islanders I'm getting a little sick of Ocean Choice whining about an "exclusivity" as if they own our ocean... boys, and that includes your high priced spin doctor, Jack.... “give it up!!!!” as you're in "business", which in case you don't know is a "free enterprise system", and because some previous Government was crazy enough to think they "controlled everything" you should have been enterprising enough to know it would have no longevity from a "market" point of view or from the public for that matter... Ocean Choice have had a great run at it since they scooped up the Polar business and they should have had enough time to learn how to deal in the real world of business as opposed to "threatening" Islanders every time they don't like something... I can't even imagine how “whatever Mariner Seafood’s did” would ever be a threat to Ocean Choice... what my competitors do in the marketplace is their business and if they want to build and develop buildings below cost and take on too much debt, then they can fill their boots... but we’re going to run our business by providing service, choice and value to our customers and we’re not going to worry about the Government giving an "exclusive" to our competitors... as we can fend for ourselves without their business and Ocean Choice should be able to do the same... I wish I could be the Minister of Fisheries for a day as that would be about as long as it would take me to get the message to Ocean Choice to "put a sock in it" or go home.... "as you're not getting a free ride" on PEI taxpayers any longer....
Seafood processor alleges contract breach
Monday, January 18, 2010
CBC News
The CEO of Newfoundland-based seafood processor Ocean Choice says he believes the P.E.I. government has broken its contract agreement with the company.
Blaine Sullivan, CEO of Ocean Choice, said his company was not informed about a large loan to one of its competitors.
"I was very disappointed that they haven't been forthcoming with us," he said Monday.
In 2004, the P.E.I. government signed a contract with Ocean Choice when the company bought the remains of Polar Foods International, a P.E.I.-based food processing company that was heading for bankruptcy.
A clause in that contract says if the province offers financing to one of Ocean Choice's processing competitors, it must offer comparable financing to Ocean Choice.
Last week, a $400,000 loan to Mariner Seafoods came to light when the president of the company filed financial statements with the P.E.I. Supreme Court in order to get protection from his creditors.
Sullivan said he met with P.E.I. Fisheries Minister Allan Campbell last week and the April 2009 loan to Mariner Seafoods was never mentioned.
"We'd certainly hope that the P.E.I. government would want to live up to the agreement," said Sullivan. "Or, at least sit down with us and negotiate changes in the agreement that they can live with and we can all live with."
Under the purchase agreement, if the government breaks the contract, Ocean Choice can walk away from its remaining loan payments for Polar Foods — an estimated $10 million.
Campbell said the loan to Mariner Seafoods was for a snow crab line and not lobster, and therefore doesn't break the agreement with Ocean Choice.
"If they want to take a look at this and if they think that we're providing financing to a competitor, we'll have that discussion and we probably need to get some legal opinion on that," Campbell said. "If that is indeed the case we'll look at something along the same terms."

No comments: