Press Releases
Liberals Vote No to Business Risk Management Program for Farmers
Part 2 of Video
(June 3, 2010) Liberal MPPs defeated a resolution in the Ontario Legislature today that would have pushed the McGuinty government into implementing the business risk management program that Ontario farmers have been asking for. The resolution was tabled by Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson in reply to farmers in his constituency and Ontario’s 57,000 farm families who have been seeking government assistance.
“Ontario farmers across many commodity groups are suffering during this
economic downturn,” Wilson said in his remarks in the Legislature.
“While governments have bailed out autos and banks, there is no
infrastructure program or any other form of additional relief for
Ontario farmers.”
In a recent letter to MPPs, the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability
Coalition (OASC) said, “The resolution coming before the Legislature is
about food security and the ability to feed ourselves while sustaining
a healthy economy and environment. The importance of a home grown food
supply cannot be overstated!” They also wrote, “At risk are not just
Ontario’s farmers and the 80,000 jobs they provide, but also the many
jobs across the province in processing and further processing of
Ontario’s food products. This number is estimated to exceed 600,000
jobs.”
If accepted by the Liberals, Wilson’s resolution would have ensured
that Ontario farmers had a business risk management program in place
for the 2009 production year, which is currently being marketed.
Instead, Liberal MPPs used their majority to defeat the motion 23 to 16.
Wilson called it “disgraceful” that neither the Minister of Agriculture
nor the Parliamentary Assistant even bothered to vote or join the
debate. “The resolution was neither hostile nor contentious. It was a
simple, yet important effort to encourage the government to validate
its support for Ontario farmers and today they let them down,” said
Wilson.
The following is the recorded vote.
Those in favour:
Arnott, Ted
Bisson, Gilles
Clark, Steve
DiNovo, Cheri
Elliott, Christine
Hardeman, Ernie Kormos, Peter
Kular, Kuldip
Marchese, Rosario
McMeekin, Ted
Miller, Paul
O'Toole, John Prue, Michael
Ruprecht, Tony
Sergio, Mario
Wilson, Jim
Those opposed:
Albanese, Laura
Arthurs, Wayne
Balkissoon, Bas
Berardinetti, Lorenzo
Cansfield, Donna H.
Delaney, Bob
Dhillon, Vic
Dickson, Joe
Flynn, Kevin Daniel
Jaczek, Helena
Lalonde, Jean-Marc
Mangat, Amrit
McNeely, Phil
Moridi, Reza
Murray, Glen R.
Naqvi, Yasir
Pendergast, Leeanna
Phillips, Gerry
Qaadri, Shafiq
Sandals, Liz
Smith, Monique
Wilkinson, John
Wynne, Kathleen O.
Zimmer, David
