For immediate release:
December 8, 2005

Barrett, Tory lament downward spiral of farm income

Queen’s Park – PC Agriculture Critic Toby Barrett says a recent Stats Canada report proves what he has been trying to make the Minister of Agriculture understand – farmers in Ontario are in a crisis.

Barrett commented following questions from Opposition Leader John Tory in the Legislature regarding the plight of farmers in Ontario.

“According to a recent Statistics Canada report, farm incomes in Ontario during your first year in office were 72% below the average for the past five years.” Tory pointed out in the Legislature. “Nationally, those numbers tell a far different story: Farmers saw a decline in incomes of only 3.5% during that period.

“Premier, what specific action is your government taking to address the farm income crisis that is affecting so many farmers, so many families and so many communities across Ontario?”

Later, the Opposition Leader cited a glaring example of where crop insurance is failing Ontario farmers.

“According to an Environment Canada rainwater collection site in Centreville, there were only 143 millimetres of rain in parts of Lennox and Addington county this past summer - yet Agricorp, your government's crop insurance company, claims that over 250 millimetres of rain fell, thus making the farmers ineligible for payouts under the insurance program.” Tory indicated. “… farmers pay into this insurance program to cover exactly this kind of situation: poor weather conditions that lead to below-average crops. Your insurance arm is quibbling over rain while the farmers struggle. What kind of work is that with stakeholders, and what are you going to do to see that farmers get the help they deserve at a time when it's been an unusually dry summer?”

In her responses, Minister of Agriculture Leona Dombrowsky referenced, “work with our agriculture stakeholders to identify… where the CAIS program is not working well,” as well as an admission that, “going forward we want to look at the program to see what will make it work better.”

Mr. Tory used his final question to make it clear that improvements down the road do nothing for farmers who are suffering now.

“Here's what one farmer from your own riding had to say, and I'll quote from his comments in the Kingston Whig-Standard: ‘This is the worst year I've ever had in 22 years on this farm. I have to pay $15,000 on hay right now and everybody's in the same boat. And then they're trying to tell us that they're going to fix the program. What does that do for us now? Absolutely nothing. [It's] like taking insurance out on your car and the only place you can get coverage is if you get hit in Toronto, not Kingston.’” Tory intoned. “So much for the farmers. Is the best you've got to tell the farmers of this province, "Better luck next year?”

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture has also recently addressed the issue and are reportedly in talks with the Ministry for changes to the crop insurance program with regard to recorded rainfall.

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For more information please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: 519-428-0446, 416-325-8404 or 1-800-903-8629