At Fiera Foods, we wish to restate our commitment to playing by the rules and to express our disappointment with an October 28th story from the Toronto Star with inaccurate and damaging allegations.
Most notably, the article states in its lede that Fiera Foods has claimed over $25 million in false tax deductions. What the story declines to note is that upon appeal over $20 million of these expenses have since been allowed in a consent to judgment from the Tax Court of Canada. This consent is publicly available and we have provided it to the Toronto Star’s public editor.
We are continuing with the appeal process for any remaining amounts and are confident that we have complied with all legal requirements. Given that the author makes use of bits and pieces of our Tax Court file, it is particularly disappointing that she has overlooked this crucial element of the file, which if included, clearly alters the narrative of her story.
Like most companies, our preference is to avoid prejudicing ongoing legal matters by commenting on them publicly, but when patently false information is shared to thousands of Star readers across the country, we have an obligation to correct misinformation.
We respect the role that investigative journalists play holding Canadian businesses to account and have always made an effort to respond to media requests. This story, however, falls short of the standards of fairness and accuracy that the Star has publicly committed to and it’s important that we correct the record.
We are proud of our team members, who throughout this pandemic have continued to come to work every day, doing their part to help maintain the integrity and security of Ontario’s food supply chain. As we review our options in response to this misleading story, we will continue our efforts as a safe, productive food manufacturer with the best interests of our employees, customers, and surrounding community as our first priority.