CHESTERVILLE ON —Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and Jim McDonell, Ontario PC Candidate for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, and Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean-Carleton and PC critic for Revenue and Government Accountability, to announced that a PC Government will deliver change for Ontario farmers whose cost of production has skyrocketed , excessive red tape and expensive energy experiments. Hudak made his announcement following a productive roundtable discussion at the Vanden Bosch Farms.
Hudak outlined the PC priorities, included in Changebook that will provide stability to Ontario farmers while simplifying how they interact with the provincial government. In particular, an Ontario PC Government will:
- Deliver a permanent business risk-management program for farmers in non-supply-managed sectors.
- Protect supply management for farmers in supply-managed commodities.
- Create a ‘one-window’ policy for farmers and agri-businesses that will cut red-tape and ensure they can access Government of Ontario farming programs and information through a single point of contact with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
- Implement a ‘Buy Ontario’ program that leads by example at provincial institutions such as hospitals and schools.
“Risk management is not only about peace of mind, it is about correcting a competitive imbalance that gives farmers in other jurisdictions an unfair market advantage. Our program will be based on the cost of production. And unlike the Liberals – our support will be predictable and permanent.”
–Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader
- According to the CFIB, “Eighty-one per cent of our agri-business members indicate more needs to be done to ease the regulatory and compliance burden on farmers in order to improve their competitiveness.”
