| This article originally appeared
in Chatham This Week.
By Peter Epp
Wednesday October 05, 2005
A Progressive Conservative MPP from
Eastern Ontario says he’s hearing “a lot” about cost of production guarantees,
as he attends policy development meetings across rural Ontario.
“What I’m hearing is that farmers
want a cost of production minimum guarantee,” says John Yakabuski.
“It’s very difficult for farmers
here to compete with their US counterparts.”
The MPP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke
led a policy discussion in Dresden on Sept. 21. Yakabuski and Oxford MPP
Ernie Hardeman are co-chairs of the Conservatives’ agriculture and rural
development policy committee.
Yakabuski said many issues have been
raised as he and Hardeman visit rural communities, but he said the lack
of strong prices and a profit for farmers are major themes.
He also suggested that if farmers
received adequate prices for their crops, many of the problems faced by
rural communities would vanish.
Yakabuski added that Progressive
Conservative leader John Tory is making a big effort to “reach out to rural
Ontario,” which he said contrasts sharply with the approach taken by Premier
Dalton McGuinty.
“Believe me, there are some real
concerns about agriculture and rural development,” Yakabuski said.
The Dresden meeting was moderated
by Wallaceburg resident Pat Davis, who served as a constituency representative
for former MPP Marcel Beaubien.
Davis asked the small group to respond
to two questions: “What can a Progressive Conservative government do to
protect and promote agriculture and agri-business, and address the needs
of farmers?”
The second question asked was: “What
can a Progressive Conservative government do to promote economic development
in rural Ontario?”
Some of the answers provided by the
participants, some of whom were farmers from the area, suggested greater
participation from the provincial government in agricultural support programs.
Among those attending the Dresden
meeting was Monte McNaughton of Newbury, who is seeking the Progressive
Conservative nomination for the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
A similar policy development meeting
was held at Forest on Sept. 28.
A provincial election will not be
held until October 2007.
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