QUEEN’S PARK – Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch says he was deeply disappointed to see Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell reject the prospect of delivering Ontario farmers their own Risk Management Plan.
“It’s a shame the minister failed to act today on the urgent need for this kind of investment in Ontario’s agriculture,” Murdoch says.
When Murdoch asked the minister during question period today if she would use the extra money in her new budget toward a made-in-Ontario Risk Management program, he found the minister could not answer.
“Instead of giving me a straight answer, she first deflected and then moments later she went on a rant about her support of local food production,” he says. “It’s a real shame she failed to live up to her own words.”
Murdoch’s question was in response to the call for a Risk Management Plan heard at a Bruce County Federation of Agriculture meeting two weeks ago, which Mitchell also attended. The Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition (OASC) is also pushing for a Risk Management plan for Ontario farmers who are not part of the supply management system.
“Risk Management is our number one priority,” Murdoch says. “It’s obvious that her ministry is being run by the people in the Premier’s office whose staff don’t care about what happens to farmers and rural Ontario.”
Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford and PC critic for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, also questioned the minister on the lack of provincial support for Ontario’s farmers.
Hardeman pointed out the federal government’s concerns over trade implications if implemented nationally, reminding the minister that an Ontario problem needs an Ontario solution. He also called on Minister Mitchell to “stop acting like a lobbyist and start acting like a government.”
Murdoch said that the province had no reservations about picking up the federal government’s portion of child care funding in Ontario.
“I didn’t mince my words with the minister. I told her, ‘Screw the feds.” We don’t need them. If Quebec could do it for their farmers so can we.”
