The Rural Voice, 1996-04, Page 55FARMGATES
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Newton Hall
Farms
Bob & Darrell Brassington
519-986-2162
District Director Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
52 THE RURAL VOICE
News in Agriculture
inappropriate categories of so-called
development that take over our
foodland resource base."
On OMAFRA cuts, the Federation
reminded Johnson that Mike Harris
had promised "Agriculture will
regain its fair share of government
support. That is why there are NO
cuts to agriculture programs in our
policy document The Common Sense
Revolution."
The Federation also told Johnson
it's time for property tax reform.
"Ontario's property tax system is
inherently unfair to farmers since
over 80 per cent of their assets are
tied up in land and buildings.
Funding for local government
services, including education and
other people services, overburdens
the farm property tax base, often
creating cashflow problems."
The Federation was also concerned
about downloading of responsibility
for services from the federal
government to the provinces and the
provinces to the municipalities
without providing funding. Under the
provinces omnibus Bill 26, the
Savings and Restructuring Act, this
will result in user fees and other new
taxes, the brief said, hitting farmers.
"Changes to a wide range of
legislation (under Bill 26), threaten
rural infrastructure unless provincial
standards are maintained for rural
services. While recognizing the need
for fiscal restraint and the block
funding approach, which places
much responsibility on municipal
levels of government, there is still a
responsibility for the government of
Ontario to declare agriculture a
'priority industry' whose resources
and infrastructure must not be
jeopardized."
On the federal side of things, the
Federation told John Richardson,
MPP for Perth -Wellington -Waterloo
it wanted the PST and GST
harmonized with a tax exemption
applying to all busincss inputs which
would, it said, reduce farmers' cost
of production as well as reducing
costs of administcring two separate
tax systems.
The Dairy Producers asked that the
government not reduce the amount of
money going into research. Other
countries have realized government
support for agricultural research is
"green" (allowed) under the World
Trade Agreement and arc focussing
their efforts in this arca at the same
time as Canadian governments are
cutting funds for research, they said.
The Federation expressed concern
to members about the patchwork of
communications systems in the
province that prevents some farmers
from taking advantage of modern
advances like fax, computer modems
and the Internet. "The flow of
information, whether it be data
transmission or telecommunications,
is as critical to thc rural private sector
as it is to the urban -based businesses.
There is need for a basic level of
service for all rural Ontario that is
comparable to our urban centres.
This situation must improve, and
improve quickly, if rural Ontario is to
stay competitive in thc global
marketplace."0
Advice
Managing conflict in
the family business
By Rob Gamble
Business Management Advisor
Dr. Ron Hanson, a well known
speaker on the subject of farm family
relationships, recently spoke to a
group of farm families about building
better working relationships between
family members. He identified the top
seven areas of disagreement in a
family farm business. They are:
1. Decision making and control of the
farm business. Who has the final say
in farm business decisions?
2. New ideas for change in the farming
business operation.
3. Money spending policies.
4. Time off policies and vacations for
family members.
5. Family and farm business goals.
6. Farm business employees.
7. Actual role of the wife or wives in
thc farm business operation.
Do any of these strike a chord with
you? That doesn't surprise me. If you
are running a family business, chances
arc you have encountered some of
these problems. The key to getting
through them is good communications
1