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by Michael Erskine
TORONTO---Farmers
across the province were in a state of shock after the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) announced its intention to
phase out grants under the Municipal Outlet Drainage program (MOD), a
shock that is hardly ameleorated by an August 23 announcement that
transition funding will now be made available to cushion the blow.
While the $5 million
dollar MOD program is not a huge line item in the provincial budget,
said Tehkummah Reeve and cattle farmer Jim Anstice, the message the
decision is sending to farmers, already embattled and discouraged by
the impact of BSE-closed borders and the succession of other economic
hits that have hammered the $30-billion industry in Ontario over the
past year, is doubly devastating.
Adding to the
psychological impact of the July 27 announcement was its surprise
nature.
There was no
consultation or advance warning of this action, noted Ron Bonnett,
president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA).
"This will mean a
significant change to the Municipal Drainage Act, something that has
been in place since the mid-1800s," noted Mr. Bonnett. Up to this
point, municipalities have been able to use the MOD program funding to
respond to farmers when a drainage engineering report calls for a new
or improved municipal drain, he added, and the OFA has long supported
the program.
The Resources
Management Branch announcement also means that unorganized
municipalities in
Northern Ontario will no longer receive funding under Section 123 of the
Drainage Act for projects.
Mr. Bonnett said it
is difficult for Ontario's farmers to understand this change, coming
on the heals of a government announcement of a $100 billion
infrastructure program.
"These municipal
drains are a critical part of the infrastructure the province's
farmers need to improve their production efficiency," Mr. Bonnett
said. The province's announcement includes improvements to the Tile
Loan Program that farmers can use for projects on their farms, "but if
support for municipal drains is cut, where will farmers go with their
field tile to gain outlet for the water?" he asked.
"This has been an
issue everywhere I have been in the North," admitted Ontario
Agriculture and Food Minister Steve Peters, during a recent stop on
Manitoulin. But the Liberal government followed a strong philosophical
commitment to the concept of user-pay while going through the recent
budget process.
That having been
said, the Province will still be subsidizing the position of drainage
superintendent, noted Minister Peters.
Mr. Anstice said he
doesn't buy into the user-pay argument.
"It's a very poor
excuse," he said. "If the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) was put on
a strict user-pay basis, where would it be at the end of the week?"
Minister Peters was
on Manitoulin
Island
as part of a week-long tour of Northern farming communities, and local
farmers and OFA officials got the opportunity to bend the minister's
ear on a wide-range of agricultural issues during an informal barbecue
at Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown's Kagawong residence on Friday.
What the Minister
heard at that meeting, and numerous other consultations across the
North does seem to have had some impact, as an August 22 release from
his office announced that the province will assist rural
municipalities in dealing with the cancellation of the drainage
program by providing transitional funding.
"The government has
listened to the concerns expressed by rural municipalities and now we
are taking action," said Minister Peters. "We are committed to working
with the rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA), the Association
of Municipalities of Ontario and agricultural stakeholders to create a
new model for rural infrastructure. In the interim, the government
will provide transitional funding."
The agriculture
industry is the second-largest economic cluster in the province, just
behind the automotive sector, and Premier Dalton McGuinty had pledged
to make it a key area of concentration for his government, a claim
that has since been met with some skepticism by area farmers.
"With $500 million
just announced for an automotive manufacturing fund," said Mr. Anstice,
"what message does it send when they can't find $5 million."
In fact, the
psychological impact of the cancellation of the program runs far
deeper than its economic impact.
"This to me is a
worse blow than BSE," explained Mr. Anstice. "We had no control over
BSE, but this is our own government doing this. Drainage we can
control."
With the impact of
BSE, he added, the farming industry, particularly the livestock
industry, is scrambling to find alternative crops to diversify into;
making the timing of this announcement particularly galling, as areas
like Manitoulin, with their historic concentration on the cattle
industry, are just now entering a period where the program would be
useful.
"The vast majority
of the money in this program, something like 60 percent, goes into
Essex, Kent and Lampton counties," said Mr. Anstice, "the rest is
divided up among all the other areas of the province."
Mr. Peters committed
to discussing support for municipal drainage projects with executives
of his departments in Ottawa, and he said he would also be meeting
with numerous delegations at the Associated Municipalities of Ontario
on August 23.
"Together we will
build better farms, a better economy and a better Ontario," he said. |