Cape Breton Farmers' Market Co-operative files for bankruptcy

The financially struggling Cape Breton Farmers' Market Co-operative has filed for bankruptcy a year after getting into a dispute with its former landlord in downtown Sydney, N.S.

Last May, the co-operative's vendors were locked out of their space in the Old Triangle building after D. MacPhee Realty said it was owed $76,000 in back rent and property taxes.

The market's manager at the time, Pauline Singer, told reporters it owed about $25,000 in property taxes it was supposed to pay to the landlord as part of the lease agreement.

Last week, insolvency trustee Goldhar & Associates put an ad in the Cape Breton Post saying the market went bankrupt June 2.

The president of the market's board of directors did not return calls from CBC News. The lawyer for the landlord said his client forgave the market's debt and is not a creditor in the bankruptcy.

"The landlord was prepared in good faith to forgive the amounts that were outstanding," said lawyer Tony Mozvik.

Mozvik said his client sympathizes with the vendors.

"Not the individuals who were running the organization, but the vendors themselves," he said.

"They were all good people, kind people who were certainly just trying to eke out a living, and the landlord certainly did not wish to cause them any further troubles." 

The market received nearly $1 million in federal money to renovate the space that formerly housed a bar called Smooth Herman's on Falmouth Street near the Esplanade.

Mozvik said after an agreement was struck over the debt, the vendors were allowed to remove their market stalls, accessories, "and anything that the vendors themselves personally owned."

"The landlord could have distrained for rent and seized those items, but it chose not to," said Mozvik.

Cape Breton Regional Municipality has confirmed it is a creditor of the market.

CBRM spokesperson Christina Lamey said the municipality is owed $3,540.46 for water consumption and arrears.

It's not clear who else may be a creditor. 

After it was locked out last May, the market set up in a temporary location at the Pan Cape Breton Food Hub property on the Trans-Canada Highway in Bras d'Or.

It then settled in at the Cape Breton Exhibition grounds in North Sydney.

However, former vendor Mark Jantunen told CBC Radio's Information Morning Cape Breton that the Cape Breton Farmers' Market has not operated since December.

Jantunen said there are a number of smaller markets in the Sydney area, but they all operate at the same time and none has a large clientele.

"Unfortunately, my experience was customers weren't going to all four of them," said Jantunen, who now sells vegetables and preserves at the market in Mabou.

"Having a draw that's centralized and bringing in as many customers as possible, that's really essential."

The insolvency trustee said he can't comment on the market's bankruptcy.

The first meeting of creditors is being held online and is scheduled for June 19.

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