PERTH — The Lanark Landowners Association has sparked a government investigation into its activities because of so-called "illegal" beef sold at farmers’ markets across the Ottawa Valley.

When the LLA publicized its sale of uninspected beef at the Perth Farmers’ Market last month, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food issued two press releases warning people not to buy uninspected meat. The grassroots movement has since held two more "illegal" beef sales at farmers markets in Renfrew and Carleton Place, attracting long lines of buyers, snapping up beef at a rock bottom price of $1.99 per pound.

Dr. Tom Baker, head of meat inspection for OMAF, says the case being investigated is peculiar. "It’s an organization boasting that it’s breaking the law."

While some Lanark Landowners’ members are not convinced the meat they are selling is uninspected it doesn’t seem to matter. Hundreds of people are lining up to buy it and the association is getting its message to the public. They want the federal government to entrench property rights in the constitution and the members are willing to go to jail if push comes to shove.

They’re strategic and creative in their thinking and they vow not to go away.

"We break the law," Hillier admitted, adding that when the board of directors first met last year they decided their mission could only be achieved without compromise. "If we weren’t prepared to go to jail then we weren’t prepared to fight," he said.

But they’re more cunning than that. As governments have found it is more expedient to improvish opposition through heavy fines, Hillier says the LLA activists have taken steps to ensure they have no assets that can be taken from them.

"They can investigate us. They can charge us. They can do whatever the hell they want. We can’t be impoverished. If they fine us $10 or $10 million they’ll get the same—nothing."

Hillier’s strategy, he says, is in stealing a page from the left-wing environmentalists like Greenpeace and conducting eye-grabbing events.

"We’re doing what left-wing environmentalists like Greenpeace have done to turn against rural people and private ownership. We’re doing the same things."

Some ideas remind one of the wild west and the only thing that holds members back are their wives. Last fall, the Lanark Landowners’ Association invited the Ottawa news media to watch its illegal deer hunt. But they didn’t shoot any deer. Their wives wouldn’t let them. But that didn’t stop Hillier from telling reporters that their plans were to hunt. A few members walked into the woods and fired a few shots into the air.

They held a second "illegal" deer hunt in June and four hunters were charged with hunting violations, including hunting out of season. Although two LLA members led this reporter to two dead deer in a pit, the Ministry of Natural Resources has not found any carcasses.

The LLA, which has grown in popularity in one year from four cats to 2,000 members, has generated a lot of publicity with its mock trials and other antics. They’ve held numerous road blocks on secondary highways to pass out literature and have even held a mock livestock auction on Ottawa’s Wellington Street, right in front of the Parliament buildings. The event included live cattle.

Their antics have generated enemies. Police are loathe to see them coming and one Ottawa Valley newspaper stopped reporting on their activities because last year’s deer hunt turned out to be a hoax. Other established farm lobby groups call them loose cannons and some farmers complain that selling illegal meat won’t endear the farmer with consumers.

"We’re just god-damn normal people," Hillier explains. "We’re real Canadians."

He added that when there is an injustice people must be prepared to stand up against it.

The established lobby groups like the Ontario Federation of Agriculture have no effect and there is a huge disconnect between urban politicians and their constituencies, he said. "The regular channel is a rut where you don’t achieve anything. They just negotiate how much injustice they are willing to live with."

The LLA has done a lot of good in its short life, such as affecting changes to laws on deer hunting and encouraging Lanark MP Scott Reid to introduce this month in the House of Commons a private members’ bill on property rights.

But the LLA will not stop there. In fact, their strikes and demonstrations will increase.

"We’ve learned that you have to continue to escalate," Hillier said.