Court orders BC Tree Fruits to sell all assets, growers fear imported fruit take-over [Video]

It’s a sad reality for the members of the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative after the BC Supreme Court ordered the sale of all its assets.

“It’s frustrating, sitting there and watching it unfold, when we know that the problem can be fixed, we just need the help,” said former BCTFC board member and Kelowna fruit grower Amarjit Lalli.

According to court documents, the co-op owes $53,236,756.41 to secured creditors, including $50,825,051.81 to the Canadian Imperial Banking Corporation.

Lalli is now looking to the government for assistance.

“The help is in the form of the government stepping in and saying ‘You know what, we’ll back your guys’ loan, we’ll help you restructure,’” said Lalli.

However, another former BC Tree Fruits board member says the fate of the company is already sealed.

“When you’re $50 million in debt and paying interest on that type of loan, that’s growers’ money, that’s money basically out of my pocket – we need to return as much money as possible to the growers,” …