The Rural Voice, 2006-01, Page 48GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P!
Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: www.ofa.on.ca/grey
519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-955
• The Rural Voice is provided to OF,
Members in Grey County by the GCF,
Let candidates know about agriculture's concerns
Well OFA Convention and
executive elections are over,
resolutions for consideration by the
2005 Convention were dealt with,
some were lost and some were
carried.
The Unified Voice is very much
alive and with farming still in a crisis
situation every voice is needed to let
the government of the day know how
negative the farm income is. With the
upcoming Federal election in January
2006 this is a real opportunity to
write, e-mail, telephone or go to All -
Candidates' meetings and let your
candidates know what is going on
and that it is time for them to step up
to the plate, and follow through with
their election promises. After all
"farmers feed people".
– Jacquie Hendry, OFA Regional
Director Grey North
Ontario Agriculture's Unified
Voice Election Strategy:
The election mission of the
Unified Voice is to:
1) Acquire candidate and party
commitments to the needs of Ontario
agriculture as presented in the
Farmers Feed Cities! Campaign; and
2) Ensure the FFC messages
achieve the widest possible public
exposure.
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION
OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORS'
MEETING
Thursday, January 26, 2006
8:00 p.m.
Grey County Agricultural
Services Centre Meeting Room
(Grey Gables)
206 Toronto Street South,
Markdale
Members are welcome to attend
44 THE RURAL VOICE
Messages:
What Election Candidates Need
to Hear:
Ontario farmers (and rural
businesses) are experiencing a
crippling income crisis due to high
subsidies paid to farmers in other
countries. These subsidies force the
prices for Ontario products far lower
than the cost to produce them.
Ontario farmers have developed
viable and necessary income support
programs to contribute to a healthy
and growing farm sector. These
programs rely on a public investment
in primary agriculture that has been
demonstrated to provide positive
returns for rural Canada. Government
needs to work collaboratively with
the farm sector in implementing these
programs.
Candidates need to know:
The pre-election. ad-hoc funding
announcement does not address the
needs of Ontario's diversified
agricultural economy and Ontario
farmers — it does not even begin to
recognize the hurt experienced by
Ontario farmers and gives no
flexibility to ensure it will go to
Ontario farmers from all sectors who
are in need.
To provide for economic stability
in rural Ontario, Ontario farmers
need:
The assurance of immediate
financial assistance in year one and
sufficient investment over the next
two years, for all sectors in need,
until the next Agricultural Policy
Framework can be designed and
implemented.
Flexibility in the delivery of
assistance to Ontario farmers — an •
Ontario mechanism.
Preservation of supply
management systems to continue to
ensure those farmers earn stable
incomes and receive a fair share of
food prices to create a stable and
equitable economic environment
that benefits every link in the food
chain including consumers and
farmers.0
All -CANDIDATES MEETING
ruce-Grey-Owen Sound
Thursday, January 12, 2006
8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Keady Community Centre
Sponsored by:
Grey and Bruce Federations of Agriculture
with support from
Christian Farmers' Federation of Ontario
and National Farmers' Union - Ontario
This is your opportunity to be part of a
discussion on the agricultural issues
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