The arguments presented to Justices Roberts, Miller and Zarnett in the Ontario Court of Appeals revolved around the legislative intent and constitutionality of false pretenses within Ontario’s Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act (STPFSA), 2020.

Why it matters: On April 2, 2024, Superior Court Judge Koehnen ruled that specific provisions within the Act violate the right of freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights, declaring them to have no force or effect.

In 2022, Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, advocate Jessica Scott-Reid, and Toronto Cow Save organizer Louise Jorgensen challenged the constitutionality of new animal welfare legislation aimed at preventing activist disruptions and protecting farms from trespassing.

Arden Beddoes, a litigator for Scott-Reid and Jorgensen, argued that the Act infringes on freedom of expression under Section 2(b) of the Charter by focusing on the aspect of false pretenses rather than the value of the undercover exposé.

“There is no property right to the truth, the Absolute Truth, from everyone who seeks ingress,” argued Beddoes. “Under state laws enacted in this province, you only vitiate the consent because of this law. It’s not in the Trespass Act.”

Justice Zarnett pushed back, arguing the Trespass Act is procedural, dealing with remedies, not the relationship of trespass, which is established in common law, not the Trespass Act.

“But for the exposés, there would be no (STPFSA) law. That is the case,” volleyed Beddoes.

To which Justice Roberts replied, “But for the trespass, there would be no law,” questioning whether the deceit and the consent are inextricably intertwined to impair the validity of consent.

Justice Zarnett asked if the law’s “new” aspect was making something a trespass or establishing a provincial offence in those circumstances, which would otherwise only be actionable in a civil court.

“This is how you stop investigations, private investigations, investigative journalism, much of which, or a significant portion of which, could require investigatory deception,” Beddoes said, adding investigatory deceptions are protected under Section 2(b).

“They contribute to a marketplace of ideas from which people like Ms. Scott Reid draw, from which researchers may draw, on these important issues about how humans treat animals.”

Robin Basu, counsel to the Attorney General, stated that between 2007 and 2020, only 16 undercover exposés were published. He suggested that the COVID-19 restrictions from 2021 to 2022 limited undercover exposés more than STPFSA’s enforcement from 2020 to May 2024.

“(The Respondents) can’t say there were no undercover investigations when the law was enforced because we don’t know,” argued Basu. “There’s no evidence in the record that there were none. All we know is that the claimants say, we’re aware of no exposés being published.”

He added that evidence shows animal rights groups often defer reporting to authorities to prolong the collection of visceral footage, without producing an exposé.

Frederick Schumann, Animal Justice representative, stated that the journalist and whistleblower exceptions are too narrow.

“The person must be a journalist when they obtain the consent,” said Schumann.

A person working with an animal advocacy organization on an investigative exposé is not a journalist, nor are they considered an employee at the time they use false representation to gain employment, he explained.

“Neither the journalist exception nor the whistleblower exception is of assistance to them,” Schumann argued, even if they provide material to a media organization, law enforcement or regulatory body.

“It’s excluding, fundamentally, the animal advocacy organization from carrying out the exposé because their primary function is not to disseminate information to the public.”

In his rebuttal, Basu suggested, “There is no obstacle to Animal Justice setting up a subsidiary that is dedicated, or the primary function is the dissemination of information to the public.”

STPFSA targets trespass, not speech, said Basu, and Section 2(b) doesn’t mandate that free expression must secure genuine consent to enter a property, nor do civil consequences narrow constitutional protections.

“My friend said, ‘You can’t lie on your resume under this statute.’ You can lie on your resume,” explained Basu. “You just can’t do it, and when that lie successfully dupes somebody, then enter the farm.”

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The arguments presented to Justices Roberts, Miller and Zarnett in the Ontario Court of Appeals revolved around the legislative intent and constitutionality of false pretenses within Ontario’s Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act (STPFSA), 2020.

In 2022, Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, advocate Jessica Scott-Reid, and Toronto Cow Save organizer Louise Jorgensen challenged the constitutionality of new animal welfare legislation aimed at preventing activist disruptions and protecting farms from trespassing.

Why it matters: On April 2, 2024, Superior Court Judge Koehnen ruled that specific provisions within the Act violate the right of freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights, declaring them to have no force or effect.

Arden Beddoes, a litigator for Scott-Reid and Jorgensen, argued that the Act infringes on freedom of expression under Section 2(b) of the Charter by focusing on the aspect of false pretenses rather than the value of the undercover exposé.

“There is no property right to the truth, the Absolute Truth, from everyone who seeks ingress,” argued Beddoes. “Under state laws enacted in this province, you only vitiate the consent because of this law. It’s not in the Trespass Act.”

Justice Zarnett pushed back, arguing the Trespass Act is procedural, dealing with remedies, not the relationship of trespass, which is established in common law, not the Trespass Act.

“But for the exposés, there would be no (STPFSA) law. That is the case,” volleyed Beddoes.

To which Justice Roberts replied, “But for the trespass, there would be no law,” questioning whether the deceit and the consent are inextricably intertwined to vitiate consent.

Justice Zarnett asked if the law’s “new” aspect was making something a trespass or establishing a provincial offence in those circumstances, which would otherwise only be actionable in a civil court.

“This is how you stop investigations, private investigations, investigative journalism, much of which, or a significant portion of which, could require investigatory deception,” Beddoes said, adding investigatory deceptions are protected under Section 2(b).

“They contribute to a marketplace of ideas from which people like Ms. Scott Reid draw, from which researchers may draw, on these important issues about how humans treat animals.”

Robin Basu, counsel to the Attorney General, stated that between 2007 and 2020, only 16 undercover exposés were published. He suggested that the COVID-19 restrictions from 2021 to 2022 limited undercover exposés more than STPFSA’s enforcement from 2020 to May 2024.

“(The Respondents) can’t say there were no undercover investigations when the law was enforced because we don’t know,” argued Basu. “There’s no evidence in the record that there were none. All we know is that the claimants say, we’re aware of no exposés being published.”

He added that evidence shows animal rights groups often defer reporting to authorities to prolong the collection of visceral footage, without producing an exposé.

Frederick Schumann, Animal Justice representative, stated that the journalist and whistleblower exceptions are too narrow.

“The person must be a journalist when they obtain the consent,” said Schumann.

A person working with an animal advocacy organization on an investigative exposé is not a journalist, nor are they considered an employee at the time they use false representation to gain employment, he explained.

“Neither the journalist exception nor the whistleblower exception is of assistance to them,” Schumann argued, even if they provide material to a media organization, law enforcement or regulatory body.

“It’s excluding, fundamentally, the animal advocacy organization from carrying out the exposé because their primary function is not to disseminate information to the public.”

In his rebuttal, Basu suggested, “There is no obstacle to Animal Justice setting up a subsidiary that is dedicated, or the primary function is the dissemination of information to the public.”

STPFSA targets trespass, not speech, said Basu, and Section 2(b) doesn’t mandate that free expression must secure genuine consent to enter a property, nor do civil consequences narrow constitutional protections.

“My friend said, ‘You can’t lie on your resume under this statute.’ You can lie on your resume,” explained Basu. “You just can’t do it, and when that lie successfully dupes somebody, then enter the farm.”

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The confrontation took place just over 200 km north of the capital as about 100 farmers, most from the northern breadbasket state, attempted to resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ (Let’s go to Delhi) march, blocked since February.

Farmers broke through one layer of police barricades only to find security forces waiting behind iron crowd control barriers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said before the march got under way that it would go as far as security forces allowed.

“We will be only around 100 people so it is not like we can break police barricades,” Pandher said.

The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of more state support for crops and a debt waiver, and say the government must honour a promise to double their incomes.

They have been camped at Shambhu on Punjab’s border with neighbouring Haryana state since February, when police halted their march.

The Haryana government on Friday suspended mobile internet and bulk text message services in some places until Dec. 9 to “stop the spread of misinformation and rumours”, and police said “sufficient force” had been deployed to maintain law and order.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not comment on Friday’s protests, but Haryana senior minister Anil Vij, who is from Modi’s party, said the farmers would need to secure permission if they wanted to proceed to Delhi.

Modi’s government was forced to repeal some farm laws in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers when they camped outside Delhi for months.

A spokesperson for India’s main opposition Congress party said it “fully supports” the farmers’ demands.

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The measure, dubbed the tractor tax by critics and announced in the new government’s budget last month as it sought to raise funds, has drawn an angry backlash from farmers who say the ruling Labour Party does not understand rural communities.

The protesters held placards stating “no farmers, no food, no future” and “Starmer the farmer harmer”, in reference to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Police estimated about 10,000 protesters took part.

Farmer Emma Robinson, 44, said she was “absolutely livid” and would take part in measures to disrupt food supplies if the government did not back down.

Robinson said her farm in northwest England had been in her family for 500 years and she was going to pass it on to her children.

“It’s being taken out of my hands by someone that’s been in parliament for literally days,” she said.

The passing of farms down through generations was tax-free, but under the policy set out by finance minister Rachel Reeves, from 2026, 20 per cent tax would be paid on the value of a farm above 1 million pounds (C$1.8 million).

Existing personal allowances, which a married couple can combine, takes the threshold for a farm and associated property up to 3 million pounds (C$5.3 million).

Farmers say that while their land and machinery has a high value, the farms themselves have low profit margins, meaning their children would have to sell land to cover the tax bill.

Jeremy Clarkson, the former Top Gear presenter who owns a farm, was among those demonstrating and said his message for government was: “Please back down”.

The government has said the reforms would only target the most valuable farms while helping fund public services that farming communities rely on.

Environment Minister Steve Reed said he did not expect the majority of farmers to pay any more, adding: “There are a lot of figures flying around that I do not recognize.”

The government said the tax change would affect about 500 farms a year, based on the number of inherited farms in 2021-22, with the tax rate payable in instalments over 10 years. But farmers say the numbers affected will be much higher.

The government’s 500 figure does not include assets like livestock and tractors, they said. The Country Land and Business Association has estimated that 70,000 farms are worth more than 1 million pounds, and could be affected.

The backlash is only one part of a wider opposition to the Labour government’s first budget since it won an election in July, with businesses warning Reeves’ other tax-raising measures will fuel inflation.

Farmers say they are already suffering from unfair competition as cheaper imported produce does not have to meet the same environmental and welfare standards, while their incomes have also been squeezed by supermarkets and hit by climate change.

—Reporting by Sarah Young, Sachin Ravikumar and Paul Sandle

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Some farmers, angry over the new Labour government’s budget measure to make them liable for inheritance tax, have threatened to disrupt food supplies, raising concerns about availability in supermarkets.

“Retailers are closely monitoring the impact of the potential interventions, including strikes, but are adept at dealing with disruption and are working hard to ensure customers aren’t impacted,” Andrew Opie, director of food & sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said in a statement.

The BRC represents the country’s biggest retailers, including the major supermarket groups.

Tesco, Britain’s biggest grocer with a near 28 per cent market share, referred enquiries on the matter to the BRC.

The National Farmers Union has said it does not support the idea of withholding produce in protest at the inheritance tax measure but some farmers have threatened disruption.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated on Saturday there would be no change to the inheritance tax policy, telling the Welsh Labour Conference in Llandudno, north Wales, he would defend the government’s budget decisions “all day long”.

Having protested in Wales on Saturday, farmers plan a major protest in London on Tuesday.

On Sunday, transport minister Louise Haigh told Sky News she was not worried about the prospect of food shortages.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been asked for comment.

— Reporting by James Davey

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Similar frustration was voiced by farmers across Europe last winter after a surge in imports from Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

However, the mood in France has soured further, after rain-hit harvests, livestock disease outbreaks and a parliamentary election that delayed measures promised to defuse the previous protests, which saw farmers block highways for weeks.

“We have the same demands as in January, nothing has changed,” Armelle Fraiture said on her dairy farm north of Paris. “We must make the government understand that enough is enough.”

As farmers face cheaper imports, burdensome regulations and meagre incomes, a Mercosur deal would represent a bitter “cherry on the cake”, Arnaud Rousseau, head of France’s main farmers’ union, the FNSEA, told BFM TV on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of farms in France, the EU’s biggest agricultural producer, were in financial trouble, he said.

French farmers fear a Mercosur accord will bring more beef, chicken, sugar and maize from Brazil and Argentina, countries they say use pesticides on crops and growth antibiotics in livestock that are outlawed in Europe.

The agreement would also give EU farmers increased access to South American markets which could boost exports of products such as wine, cheese, milk powder and olive oil.

Farmers will hold rallies on Monday and Tuesday, mostly in front of government buildings, as part of protests planned until mid-December, Rousseau said.

Ahead of the nationwide action, a small group of farmers with tractors blocked one side of a highway near Paris on Sunday evening, displaying slogans like “Let’s not import the agriculture that we don’t want.”

President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his opposition to a deal with Mercosur as proposed.

But with France lacking EU allies in the Mercosur talks, and rural grievances running deep, the authorities may struggle to placate the farmers.

“We know we’re going out (to protest), but we don’t know when we’re coming back,” Fraiture said.

Affected commodities

Under the agreement, the EU will allow 99,000 metric tons of beef, including 55 per cent of “fresh”, high quality beef, and 45 per cent of “frozen” beef, to be phased-in over five years, with a 7.5 per cent duty.

This represents 1.2 per cent of the overall EU beef consumption of 8 million tons per year.

The EU currently imports about 200,000 tons of beef every year from Mercosur countries.

That total includes the so-called Hilton quota which allows Brazil and Argentina to each export up to 10,000 tonnes of beef, and 29,500 tonnes of prime beef cuts to the EU each year. The current 20 per cent duty on that quota is due to be removed.

The free trade agreement would allow duty-free imports of 180,000 tons of poultry meat per year from Mercosur countries.

This represents 1.4 per cent of overall EU poultry consumption of 12.6 million tons forecast in 2024, EU data showed.

The four Mercosur countries together are already the EU’s leading suppliers of chicken meat. When taken separately, Brazil – the world’s largest poultry producer – is number one, followed by Ukraine.

The additional 180,000 tons represent a 20 per cent increase in total quota volumes, which would bring the share of imports in EU consumption of poultry meat to 10 per cent, French poultry producers said.

Under the agreement, Brazil will see the tariff removed on the existing quota for 180,000 tons of sugar for refining.

Paraguay would be granted a new duty-free quota of 10,000 tons.

The agreed amounts cover a volume accounting for one per cent of EU sugar consumption, which is expected at 17.7 million tons in 2024, against a production of 16.6 million tons, EU data showed.

Mercosur countries would be granted two different tariff-rate quotas for a total of 650,000 tons, or 8.2 million hectolitres of ethanol.

The first one, of 450,000 tons, would be duty-free for biochemical uses while the second, of 200,000 tons would be at a reduced levy and for all uses, including fuel.

The total represents approximately 15 per cent of EU production.

Quota of 1,000,000 tons of duty-free maize and sorghum imports from Mercosur countries to be phased in over five years.

However, the quota would not change the current situation since maize imports are already duty free. It would only make a difference if world prices were to collapse, triggering automatic import duties on other imports.

Brazil was the second-largest maize supplier to the EU after Ukraine, with 2.9 million tonnes imported in the EU last season.

The agreement will also reduce or eliminate duties that Mercosur countries currently impose on exports to the EU of products such as soybean products to be used in animal feed.

Mercosur is already the largest soybean and soybean product supplier of the EU.

— Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, Manuel Ausloos, Gus Trompiz, Marco Trujillo and Stephanie Lecocq

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About 100 farmers gathered near the EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday with one tractor carrying a banner saying “STOP EU-Mercosur”, and claiming the deal would be bad for farmers, the environment and social rights.

In France – Europe’s largest agricultural producer – farmers dumped manure in the eastern town of Chaumont.

Brazil has been pushing to have the EU-Mercosur agreement signed by the end of the month while it holds the presidency of the G20, while France is trying to convince other EU members to form a minority bloc against the deal.

“This trade agreement, which links part of the South American states to Europe, risks having dramatic consequences for agriculture,” FNSEA Chairman Arnaud Rousseau told France Inter radio.

“So we will be in all regions from Monday, for a few days, to make the voice of France heard at the time of the G20 in Brazil,” he added, referring to the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro from Nov. 18 to 19.

Weather-hit harvests and outbreaks of livestock disease along with political deadlock after a snap election at the start of summer have added to the grievances of French farmers.

Rousseau said French farmers do not intend to block roads and highways as they had done last year when anger at competition from cheaper imports, including from EU ally Ukraine, and a regulatory burden had led to large protests across the EU.

“We are not here to bother the French people,” he said.

Farmers say the agreement with the bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay will create unfair competition for EU farmers and food makers as it will allow large imports of products that are not bound by the same strict regulation they face in the EU.

“As it stands this agreement jeopardizes fair trade and the future of millions of French producers and the agri-food chain that depends on them,” Jean-François Guihard, head of Livestock and Meat Association Interbev, told reporters on Wednesday.

The EU-Mercosur deal would allow the entry of an additional 99,000 tons of beef, 190,000 tons of sugar, 180,000 tons poultry meat, 1 million tons of maize, producers said.

— Additional reporting by Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels and Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris

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The Commission said it would allow EU member states to pay higher advances of Common Agriculture Policy funds to farmers, which would allow them to receive up to 70 per cent of direct payments in advance starting in October, and up to 85 per cent in advance payments for area and animal-based interventions under rural development.

Such payments are currently 50 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively.

“EU farmers continue to face liquidity problems, notably due to extreme weather events which have had an impact on yields in recent years, as well as high interest rates on European financial markets and high prices of agricultural inputs and commodities,” the commission said in a statement.

The Commission has taken similar measures before, notably in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this year, farmers blockaded roads to demand action on low incomes, cheap food imports, burdensome regulations and unfair competition from abroad.

Key portions of EU policy have been impacted as Brussels seeks to assuage farmers.

The EU withdrew a law to lower the use of pesticides, delayed a target for farmers to leave some land fallow to increase biodiversity and discarded a goal to reduce farming emissions from its 2040 climate roadmap.

—Reporting for Reuters by Makini Brice.

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Australia is one of the world’s biggest agricultural exporters and farmers nationwide are increasingly angry with the centre-left Labor government that has sought to ban exports of live sheep, restrict water use and accelerate construction of renewable power and transmission in rural areas.

“We deserve to be respected,” National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) President David Jochinke told a crowd on the lawn in front of Australia’s federal parliament in Canberra.

“There are alternative voices that are united against us. We don’t think they are the ones that should be setting the policy,” he said. “We feel like we are getting stiffed.”

The government did not send a representative to the rally. Agriculture minister Julie Collins told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) the government was committed to listening and had helped farmers by expanding overseas market access and investing in biosecurity.

The NFF said more than 2,000 people attended what was its first nationwide rally of farmers in the capital since the 1980s.

The protest is part of a wave of unrest in Europe and elsewhere aimed at governments imposing environmental regulation that farmers say burdens them with red tape and higher costs, as well as limiting their ability to farm.

“Our message is clear: talk to us,” Jochinke said.

Federal elections are due in Australia by May next year and farm lobby leaders say they will try to eject Labor by raising money and targeting marginal seats.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton told the rally he would reverse a ban on live sheep exports and the opposition agriculture spokesman said he was against water restrictions.

“We have your backs,” Dutton said.

Australian farmers have seen several years of bumper production thanks to plentiful rain, but pessimism is rife.

“Under this government there’s no future for agriculture in Australia,” said Will Croker, a 32-year-old livestock farmer from New South Wales. “It’s not right.”

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A few days before the European Parliament election on June 6-9, farmers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Germany travelled to Brussels to protest against EU green policies that organizers said undermine the competitiveness of European farmers.

“We came from Poland, because we know that the source of our problem is in Brussels. Because we want to change, deeply change, the Green Deal,” crop farmer Damian Murawiec told Reuters at the protest in Laeken, in northern Brussels.

It is the latest in a months-long wave of farmers’ protests across Europe, where agricultural workers have denounced low food prices, excessive regulation and free-trade deals they say leave them struggling to compete with cheap imports.

The protest was organized by Dutch lobby group Farmers Defence Force and supported by right-wing and far-right groups. With police counting around 500 tractors, it was smaller than previous farmers’ protests held in Brussels this year.

“We want Europe to put the Green Deal away because it’s not realistic,” said Bart Dickens, President of Farmers Defence Force’s Belgian branch.

Farmers Defence Force – whose secretary Sieta van Keimpema has described concerns over climate change as “hysterical” – said politicians from Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang and the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group would address the protest in the afternoon.

Europe’s biggest farming lobby Copa Cogeca, and farming association La Via Campesina, each told Reuters their members would not participate.

“We reject this attempt by small groups that have no concrete proposals to address farmers’ issues to hijack farmer concerns to push their own party interests,” a spokesperson for Via Campesina said.

Meanwhile in Poland farmers blocked one border crossing with Ukraine, in what police said was a show of solidarity with protests in Brussels.

“This protest will last three days… trucks travelling from Ukraine are blocked and 12 trucks are allowed to leave Poland between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,” said police spokesperson Malgorzata Pawlowska.

All other border crossings with Ukraine were operating normally.

On Thursday two of the largest unions representing farmers in Poland, Solidarity and OPZZ, said that they had no knowledge of the protests.

—Reporting for Reuters by Kate Abnett, Bart Biesemans, Hicham Oulichki, additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk.

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