HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-10-08, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2015.
Agriculture, veterans discussed at federal debate
Careful consideration
The Holmesville Community Centre played host to an all-candidates meeting hosted by the
Huron County Federation of Agriculture last week, where all four Huron-Bruce candidates
debated the issues. Incumbent Ben Lobb, left, and Jutta Splettstoesser are seen here
discussing the election. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Continued from page 1
working for a number of prestigious
newspapers, and spent 10 years
working as a reporter on Parliament
Hill, continuing his career teaching
journalism at Carlton University.
Spending half his life on a farm
and the other half in a city,
Thompson said he could really
appreciate the “Farmers feed cities”
slogan, having seen both sides of
that relationship.
Thompson said he hoped to be a
strong, rural voice for Huron-Bruce,
focusing on the needs of the riding,
rather than of Ottawa.
WRITTEN QUESTIONS
The first question asked the
candidates what the biggest issue is
facing Canadian agriculture, to
which Lobb responded with opening
foreign markets.
“Now that we’re coming into the
closing stages of the Trans-
Pacific Partnership, these offer
farmers up and down every
country road in this riding an
opportunity to compete with
the world markets,” Lobb said.
“It allows companies like the
Hensall Co-op, Huron Commodities,
Snobelen, Thompson’s, Parrish and
Heimbecker to all compete with
world players and be able to sell our
commodities without the pressure of
tariffs.”
Splettstoesser said that biggest
issue in the agricultural world is
research. She said Huron-Bruce
needs local research in the world of
agriculture, saying that research
conducted in western Canada
doesn’t necessarily work for the
riding.
She also touched on the
agricultural labour shortage in rural
Ontario, saying that schools need to
focus on agriculture and trades to
ensure there are enough workers to
help staff local farms.
Creces touched on some of the
same points, identifying the biggest
issue facing agriculture as
succession planning and ensuring
that the future of farming will be
viable.
“We’re getting to the point where
we’re not too big for ourselves, but
we’re definitely too big for anybody
who wants to enter this industry and
the debt alone, having to have the
money to buy land alone, to even
buy a piece of equipment is so, so
high that it’s incredibly
discouraging,” he said. “We have to
start with training, we have to start
with skills and we need to start with
getting people interested in the
industry, but we have to really, really
put our heads together and find a
way to make it an affordable
industry to get into.”
Thompson shifted the focus to risk
management, saying that farmers
need to be given predictable,
bankable support to avoid financial
catastrophe.
He said agriculture needs to be
front and centre in Ottawa again.
Thompson’s hope, he said, was to
have an Minister of Agriculture who
would meet with farmers and create
policies according to what those in
the fields need – that it’s been a long
time since Ottawa has taken that
hands-on approach to agriculture.
The value of trade agreements was
also questioned, with Canada
shipping out many raw commodities
for lower prices.
Creces said that the NDP would
strive to see value added to those
commodities while in Canada
through Canadian processing that
would add jobs to the country.
“We are shipping raw
commodities out and ‘raw’ is the key
word here. We should be processing
those, adding Canadian value,
creating Canadian jobs in Canada
before we give this stuff out for very
little in return,” Creces said.
Thompson said that while trade
agreements have been signed in
recent years, Canadians can’t
necessarily trust that Harper has
been protecting supply management
and negotiating in good faith with
his tendency to make deals in
secrecy.
Lobb countered, however, telling
Thompson that his statements
weren’t true.
He said that Harper has been very
clear that he will protect supply
management while penning 43
different international trade deals.
“I don’t know how much more
clear he can be, but I think he’s been
as clear as you can be,” Lobb said. “I
think we need to continue to push
forward on trade. It’s vitally
important.”
Under 13 years of Liberal
leadership, Lobb said, virtually no
trade deals of significance were
signed, while Harper’s government
has made it a priority to sign the
“big” deals.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve had
the best 10 years in agriculture that I
think we’ve had in the last 100
years,” Lobb said. “Just imagine the
possibilities that are out there in the
next decade and beyond.”
Next, someone asked about
veterans and how each
representative would help foster
relationships with veterans coming
back from conflicts.
Thompson said the question was
an important one to him and to the
Liberal Party under leader Justin
Trudeau.
“I fail to understand why the
current government has treated our
veterans so shabbily. It’s a
government that professes to support
our military and yet time and again
you see examples of veterans who
struggle to survive, struggle to
receive their benefits and you don’t
have to take it from me, you can take
it from them,” Thompson said.
Trudeau, Thompson said, would
radically change how veterans are
treated in Canada.
“We would return to the lifetime
covenant that veterans used to
enjoy,” Thompson said. “If you put
your life on the line for this country,
you deserve to know that we will
take care of you for the rest of your
days.”
He said the Liberal Party would
essentially give veterans the respect
they deserve.
As someone who was on the
Veterans Affairs Committee for over
five years, Lobb said the topic of
veterans and their treatment is one
about which he’s very passionate.
The Harper government, Lobb
said, modernized Veterans Affairs
and invested in veterans even during
the economic downturn of several
years ago.
“We’ve delivered for veterans and
we’ll continue to deliver for
veterans,” Lobb said of the
Conservative government.
Splettstoesser said accounting for
the cost of war has been
mismanaged over the years, saying
the cost to assist and aid soldiers
once they return to Canada needs to
be factored into the cost assessment
of sending someone to war.
Veterans, she said, need access to
service dogs, medical care and
retraining options, all of which the
Green Party supports.
Creces said he was disheartened
by the Conservatives’ treatment of
veterans, adding that many veterans
had to fight to receive benefits that
eventually came their way.
“I find it unfortunate that a lot of
those meetings the Conservatives
had with veterans were in a
courtroom,” Creces said.
He also challenged Lobb’s claim
that $3 billion is provided per year
for Veterans Affairs, saying that a
good portion of the budget is going
unspent year after year while
veterans need further support.
He said the NDP will
acknowledge and support those
suffering from Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) and
implement pensions for returning
veterans with PTSD.
He also proposed the equal
treatment of veterans, saying that
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Having their voices heard
Huron-Bruce federal candidates Jutta Splettstoesser of the Green Party, left, Gerard Creces
of the NDP, centre, and Allan Thompson of the Liberal Party, were eager to answer any and
all questions on Sept. 30 at the Holmesville Community Centre as the Huron County
Federation of Agriculture held an all-candidates meeting. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Continued on page 19