HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-08-19, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010. PAGE 9.
By Bette Jean Crews, President,
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
As the Ontario government moves
forward with its “Open For Business
Act”, the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture (OFA) is anxious to
have the opportunity to comment on
various elements of the legislation.
The Open for Business initiative is
a review of Ontario regulations that
hamper business and unnecessarily
increase the cost of doing business.
Bill 68 is an omnibus piece of
legislation proposing to eliminate or
change some regulations to make
business work better.
In the OFA’s submission to the
Standing Committee on Finance and
Economic Affairs, as it reviews the
“Open For Business Act”, we call on
the government to acknowledge the
considerable impact regulations can
have on farmers and their
businesses. “Farmers represent the
largest identifiable group of land
owners in the province,” our
submission states.
The business of farming involves
issues of labour, the environment,
animal husbandry, use of chemicals
– a broad spectrum of areas where
government regulations have a direct
impact. In fact, we believe farmers
“are very likely affected by more
regulations than any other sector of
the economy.”
We also believe that often as
government develops new
regulations, “little or no thought is
given to the potential impact on
farmland, accepted farming
practices, and our farm businesses.”
This situation often results in
farmers and their businesses left to
suffer “unintended consequences”
from government policies –
“unintentional, but negative impacts
on the farm business from an ill-
conceived regulation.”
We applaud the government for
this initiative and look forward to
working with government officials
to improve the regulatory
environment that farmers work
within. We hope it will develop into
something beneficial to our farm
businesses and society in general.
However, the OFA also urges
caution in getting rid of regulations
– those we see as being necessary
ground rules.
As the OFA’s submission to the
standing committee states, “the
removal of regulations may also
create unintended consequences –
all the implications on our farm
businesses must also be considered
in removing regulation.”
The act goes well beyond what the
OFA views as acceptable changes to
the Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Act,
giving officials from the Ministry of
Natural Resources (MNR) the
authority to enter private property
without a warrant. We find such
authority to be utterly unnecessary
and potentially dangerous to our
farm businesses and ministry
personnel.
The OFA feels such powers
provide no benefit to society, but
represent examples of inappropriate
government powers that the act is
intended to eliminate. It would
appear that no consideration has
been given to the potentially serious
implication such entry poses to the
farm animals, the crops, the farm
business and MNR personnel who
may have to stare down an angry
bull.
We have been told that the
inclusion of the warrantless search
and incidental pass through
provisions simply brings to the Oil,
Gas and Salt Resources Act
provisions that already exist in other
MNR-administered statutes. We
clearly and emphatically said that
the existence of bad law and bad
public policy is no justification for
its extension in this bill.
The OFA will work hard for
farmers to secure good regulation
and to eliminate those detrimental to
the business of farming. In this sense
we are very pleased to have been
asked by the Open for Business
Directorate to lead the Agriculture
and Agri-Food regulatory review.
This fall we will be convening
with our colleagues from across the
sector to identify several key
regulatory issues and the beneficial
changes that will improve the
farming and food business climate.
Regulations can help and harm our
businesses. This fall we will be
working to secure a better regulatory
framework to improve our farm
business climate for today and
tomorrow.
Walton has heard the roar of the
motocross for the 19th year this past
week and now it’s over. Quiet has
settled over the Lee farm this
morning as I write, and as with every
other year, it amazes me at how
quickly the farm transforms. Starting
Monday, the staff trailers, etc. begin
to arrive and by Tuesday evening, the
farm is covered with camp trailers,
RVs, huge motor homes and
tents. It is then a busy, noisy, bustling
hive of riders, campers and
spectators for six days and then
suddenly, within hours on Sunday
afternoon, the farm returns to its
former quieter self.
It takes a couple of days for
everything to be removed and by the
end of the week, you would never
know that around 5,000 people had
been living on the farm. The weather
was hot, hot, hot for the week with
no rain to dampen the track or the
spirits of those attending.
Kudos go the Brussels Minor
Hockey for the fantastic, and yes,dirty job of garbage duty, but they doan absolutely great job of keepingthe garbage cleaned up. The WaltonArea Sports Club worked the gatesagain this year, and a great job wasdone by the members of the ballteams and to the extra Walton areasupporters of the ball park. TheSeaforth Girls Marching Bandmembers and their parents had the
hot job of parking the thousands of
spectators on Saturday and Sunday
and it was handled very
well. Supporters of the Clinton
Hospital worked the coffee
hut, which served up fresh Tim
Hortons coffee, which was very
popular every morning, along with
muffins, donuts and cookies. All in
all, a very successful week for
motocross and the area groups who
receive funds for their hard work of
volunteering.
Congratulations to area riders
participating such as Matt Shannon,
Lucas and Mitchell Godkin and to
Cody Richmond who was the MX
Junior B champion.
An interesting side note was the
hockey team that dropped in to visit.
A charter bus, along with 10
carloads of folks from Texas
dropped in. There were 30 boys of
the Texas Braumas team, around 10 -
11 years old, along with their
families who travelled to Ontario to
participate in the King of the Rings
hockey tournament in Toronto. Theyhad spent a few days in the Bayfieldarea where Brian Melady of Seaforthwas their host. They dropped by foronly an hour and then they were ontheir way to the Hockey Hall ofFame in Toronto and theirtournament. Celebrating her 80th birthday withfriends on Tuesday was LeonaMcDonald. The group met at the
Wingham Golf and Country Club
and Isabel Wheeler was the hostess
for the day. She had a dozen ladies
gather at her home for cake and ice
cream following the delicious lunch
enjoyed in Wingham. The ladies
attending included Leona, Isabel,
Jean Bewley, Fran Bremner, Nora
Stephenson, Donna Knight, Yvonne
Knight with granddaughter Kaitlin,
Mary Huether, Margery Huether,
Dona Knight, Betty McCutcheon
and Betty Knight.
Congratulations to Trevor and
Karen Sutcliffe on the birth of a
daughter, Gracie in early August.
Our daughter LeeAnn Konarski
enjoyed a great experience last week
being assistant coach with the
Ontario Southwest Boys Rugby
team at the Ontario Summer Games.
The Games were held in Sudbury
and the group travelled by bus and
were away from Tuesday until
Friday. They stayed at the dorms of
Laurentian University and had a
good time. LeeAnn coaches the
Junior boys rugby team at F.E.MadillSecondary School and three Madillplayers were on the team, includingKyle Machan of Bluevale. Localgirls playing on the Southwest girlsteam included Brussels’ NatalieWhite and Alex Raynard fromMadill School. The boys team lostthe third-place game and the girlsteam won the third-place game.Congrats to all of them.
Congratulations to Albrecht and
Annalies Ringgenberg on
celebrating their 25th wedding
anniversary and their 10th
anniversary of living in Canada.
They invited their friends and
neighbors to help celebrate the
special occasion with a social
gathering at the farm. Nearly 80
enjoyed an evening meal prepared
by the Ringgenberg family and a
wonderful time catching up with
everyone. The Ringgenbergs have
four children, Elise, Nadine, William
and Caleb. Congratulations to
Albrecht and Annalies.
Duff’s United Church will be
having a special Sunday service this
Sunday at the farm of Lorne and
Bonnie Glanville. Congregants are
asked to note that service time is at
10:30 a.m. and it is an outdoor
service. Please bring lawn chairs. A
potluck lunch will follow, so bring
along your favourite dish. The music
for the day will be provided by
Walton musicians and anyone
wishing to play and join in are
welcome.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week included Christopher Bernard,
Chris Poland, Craig Sullivan, Alicia
McDonald, Craig Hackwell, Murray
Whyte, Amanda Hoegy, Joshua
Nichol, Joan Perrie, Amanda Fraser,
Shayna Melady, Devin Blake,
Marion Godkin, Rob McIntosh, Jim
Armstrong, Susan Nichol and
Andrew McDonald. Happy birthday
to all.
OFA leads review
Tight race
This wasn’t the only tight battle that took place all weekend in Walton at the 19th annual Walton
TransCan as Bluevale’s own Cody Richmond eventually placed first in several of his races to
take ultimate bragging rights. (Jim Brown photo)
NOTICE
The Belgrave Community
Centre Board
will hold their
Annual General
Meeting
On September 22, 2010 - 7 pm
at the
Belgrave Community Centre.
To obtain voting privileges
please purchase a $5.00
membership prior to the
meeting by mail:
Box 4 Belgrave, Ont. N0G 1E0,
contact a board memeber or
call 519-357-4277
MEETING NOTICE
MUNICIPALITY OF
MORRIS-TURNBERRY
The upcoming Council and Committee meetings for the
Municipality of Morris-Turnberry will be held:
Tuesday August 24 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
Tuesday September 7 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
Tuesday September 21 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
NEWS
FROM WALTON
By Jo-AnnMcDonaldCall 887-6570PEOPLE AROUNDWALTON
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