Mr. Ellis replaces Kenneth MacLellan, Indian River, who has served as Chair of Marketing Council since February 1998.

“Mr. Ellis brings a wealth of knowledge and background related to the production and marketing of natural products,” said Mr. MacAdam. “I am very pleased that he has accepted this position, and I am confident he will be a great asset to Marketing Council in its supervisory role and in its role of providing producers of natural products with the tools to regulate and control the marketing of their products.”

Mr. MacAdam also announced that the Lieutenant Governor in Council reappointed Gordon Ching, Souris, and Axel Irving, Murray Harbour, to serve as members of Marketing Council for the next three years.

“I would like to thank Kenny MacLellan for his dedication to Marketing Council over the past six years”, said Mr. MacAdam. “As chair, Kenny has shown strong leadership skills, and he has helped Council establish a number of priorities identified during the development of a strategic plan earlier this year.”

The minister met recently with the Marketing Council to discuss its plans for the coming years. “It is very evident that Council has an aggressive action plan outlined for the next two years, a plan that includes a review of the Natural Products Marketing Act, to ensure that provincial legislation and regulations meet the future needs of primary producers and to provide more assistance and direction to commodity boards and commodity groups on governance issues,” he said.

Other members of Council include Murray Cook, Edgar Dennis, Fred Dollar, Ronald Myers and Rena Thompson.

Marketing Council is a corporation formed under the Natural Products Marketing Act. Its mandate includes supervision of commodity boards, marketing commissions and commodity groups formed under the Act, and to make recommendations to the Lieutenant Governor in Council with respect to the formation, amendment and revocation of marketing plans.