It’s about time to return fairness to farmers
It’s been four years waiting for
the Ontario Government to make good on a series of promises to farmers
across this province. It’s about time that farm families get the
support, promotion and respect they deserve as the backbone of our rural
economy.
This past week I joined Opposition Leader
John Tory to announce the commitment to meet agriculture needs for the
immediate future – what I believe will be a breath of fresh air
for farmers who have been long waiting for government to step up on their
behalf.
Our key commitment is to create a farm
support program modeled on Quebec’s ASRA - The Programme D’Assurance
Stabilisation Des Revenus Agricoles.
Farming has always been one of our biggest
economic sectors – Ontario’s cash-crop, beef, hort, tobacco
and supply managed commodities have long had a well-earned reputation
for being among the best in the world.
However, farming’s future –
a fair, competitive, equitable and prosperous future – is in doubt.
During the past five years, almost five per cent of Ontario’s farms
shut down and nearly 200,000 acres of farmland have been taken out of
production. Nearly half of Ontario’s farm operators have to resort
to an off-farm job or business just to make ends meet.
While there are some forces beyond government’s
control, government broken promises and failure to address agriculture
problems with real solutions, has forced the downturn spiral almost out-of-control.
Perhaps the best example in this regard
is in the area of Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) payments.
Dalton McGuinty continues to delay payments. Just last month the President
of the OFA noted that he had only just received his statement for the
2003 CAIS program year.
In 2003, Mr. McGuinty promised a new
set of farm safety nets – farmers are still waiting.
That’s why I was proud to meet
with farmers from Chatham-Kent and Waterloo County last week to explain
some of our plans for agriculture – a plan long on action steps
to return the support, fairness and respect to Ontario farmers.
Here are some of the highlights:
|
Work with farmers to negotiate a long-term,
stable and flexible model of farm supports with the Federal Government
based upon the Quebec agricultural model – the ASRA program
|
|
Increase support for farmers by an additional
$300 million annually by the end of the first term starting with
an additional $150 million for farmers in the first budget; |
|
Implement a value-for-money audit of Agricorp in an effort to find
out why farmers wait years for payments, and need to hire specialists
to navigate them through the bureaucratic process; |
|
Within 30 days of taking office, the new PC Government Minister
of Agriculture would meet with farm organizations and work to develop
a better process to avoid support payment delays; |
|
Show real leadership by encouraging and promoting a ‘Buy Ontario’
strategy and ensuring that all public institutions purchase food from
Ontario farmers; and |
|
Work with farm organizations to expand the ‘Buy Local’
Foodland Ontario campaign, work with producers and the grocery industry
to establish Ontario Foods sections in stores and better promote the
benefits of Ontario food to consumers. |
Building a better future for farmers
requires real leadership. It’s about time that we turn things around
for Ontario’s farm families.
Using Quebec’s ASRA model is a good
start!
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For more information, please
contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (416) 325-8404,
(519) 428-0446, or 1-800-903-8629 |
