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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-04-01, Page 11THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 , 1992. PAGE 11. OFA director says PM misleading on GATT Prime Minister Mulroney was less than honest when he said most other countries did not support the retention of Article 11 (which allows supply management) in GATT talks, Tony Morris, director of the Ontario Federation of Agri­ culture (OFA) charged Saturday at the annual Members of Parliament Dinner of the Huron Federation of Agriculture. Replying to comments from Huron-Bruce M.P. Murray Cardiff, Mr. Morris, a Mildmay area farmer, challenged Mr. Cardiff to take the message back to the Prime Minister that he had misled the Canadian public when he said he would try to help Canadian farmers fight for the retention of Article 11 but that 102 countries of the 108 at GATT didn't MNR’s new bill worries farm leaders A new bill in the Ontario Legis­ lature would give the Minister of Natural Resources sweeping pow­ ers over every living thing above the level of the amoeba, farmers attending the Huron Federation of Agriculture's Members of Parlia­ ment dinner Saturday were told. "The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) wants the Crown County Council briefs Grey bridge going ahead Quotations tor various contracts in the rebuilding of the Cunning­ ham Bridge, on County Rd. 16 east of Brussels, were approved at Mon­ day's meeting of Huron County Council. J. M. McDonald Lumber of Brus­ sels won the contract to supply lumber at a cost of $12,012.90 over six other firms. It was the only Huron county company to win a contract since most of the other items can only be supplied by companies specializing in bridge construction. Council agreed with the Road Committee not to accept the single quote received for concrete, much to the displeasure of the company that quoted. Denis Merrall, county engineer, pointed out that the single quote was over 25 per cent per cubic meter more than the county was paying last year and on a job that would require 770 cubic meter, it would mean a huge difference in costs. More prices are being sought. But Huron Concrete, the lone bidder, protested in a letter to coun­ cil that it had been the only compa­ ny to take the time to prepare the bid and so it should get the con­ tract. Now that it's price was pub­ lic, it said, it was unfair in that other companies would now be asked for bids when they knew what price to undercut. *** The road committee had turned down, at its March 13 meeting, a request from county council to cut its budget further. The committee noted that it had lost $622,400 in funding from the provincial gov­ ernment this year and had already made deep cuts to its road program. *** A committee will look into how to choose a name for Huronview North, the Seniors and Social Ser­ vices Committee agreed. It was noted the home is moving toward opening and should have a name. Procedure for the choosing of a name is to be presented at the next meeting of the committee April 15. *** Council accepted a recommenda­ tion that the Planning and Develop- support the Canadian position. Only 31 countries even bothered to file positions on agriculture and of those only nine countries had any concern over Article 11 at all. Of the nine, 60 per cent supported Canada, Mr. Morris argued. Mr. Cardiff said Mr. Morris was "playing with words" to interpret the Prime Minister's words that way but Mr. Morris struck back. "It's very upsetting that the govern­ ment would go on national televi­ sion and say that," he said of Mr. Mulroney's speech to assembled Canadian farm leaders before a mission to Europe left in mid­ February. With some food manu­ facturers and the Consumers Association of Canada already attacking supply management, it gave ordinary Canadians the to take ownership of wildlife from the amoeba up," warned Tony Mor­ ris, director of the Ontario Federa­ tion of Agriculture. It means, he said, that a farmer growing com using pesticide to destroy root­ worm would effectively be destroy­ ing Crown property if the current bill goes ahead. Bill 162, amend­ ments to the Game and Fish Act, ment Committee work on the process for formation of a District Health Council Steering Committee for the county and report to the next meeting of the Executive Committee April 16. *** The possibility of establishing a designated smoking area in the County Court House will be inves­ tigated by the executive committee. The issue had been raised by the Board of Health which encouraged the Executive Committee to work towards a smoke-free court house. Currently, complying with the Smoking in the Workplace Act, there is no smoking in working areas but there is smoking allowed in public areas of the buildings: i.e. the hallways. The province has been encouraging the elimination of smoking in these areas but the county doesn't have the space or the money to provide a designated smoking area, properly vented to remove smoke from the building. The county could do anything from reducing the public areas where smoking is allowed to taking no action at all to eliminating smoking altogether in the building. The committee discussed individual rights and defeated a motion to take no action before looking at estab­ lishing a designated smoking area. Tribute paid to Betty Cardno A tribute was paid to Betty Card­ no, former head of the Home Care Program in Huron by Dr. Maarten Bokhout, Medical Officer of Health, at Monday's Huron County Council meeting. Mrs. Cardno, who died earlier this month, was the person who set up the home care program in Huron and, Dr. Bokhout said, "it's fair to say she was the voice of Home Care in the county." But her voice went farther and she had a major role to play in Home Care in the whole province, the Doctor said. Since her retirement she had been working for the Ministry of Com­ munity and Social Services as an adviser. impression that farmers were with­ out support for their position, he said. It was one of two clashes between the two men at the annual luncheon at which Huron County's farm groups meet with their mem­ bers of parliament to discuss cur­ rent concerns in agriculture. Concerns over GATT and the North American Free Trade Agree­ ment (NAFTA) were also expressed in several briefs and in questions from the floor. Bill Wal­ lace, Federation Vice-President worried that Canadian farmers will be at an unfair disadvantage to Mexican farmers because of tougher environmental standards if those standards aren't applied to foods imported from Mexico. For instance, he claimed, DDT is still has received first reading. Paul Klopp, M.P.P. for Huron and assistant to the Minister of Agriculture admitted "This bill has been a real pain in the butt for me" but he pointed out that if the bill goes to second reading, it will then go to public hearings. "There has to be some common sense," he said. Among the worries farmers have in the bill as it currently stands, are provisions to prohibit the free movement of wildlife, which could prohibit fences. There are sweeping powers for the MNR to control "undesireable species" that could damage the native wildlife. Mr. Consumer needs to know Canadian goods, MP’s told Huron's members of parliament were asked to push for packaging that easily identifies the country of origin, when they met with farm leaders for their annual luncheon meeting Saturday in Clinton. Sponsored by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, the meeting brought commodity group leaders together with Paul Klopp, M.P.P. for Huron and Murray Cardiff, M.P. for Huron-Bruce. Both men are parliamentary assis­ tants to their respective Minister of Agriculture. Questioners pointed out that in the United States, packaging regu­ lations require the country of origin must be on all foods. They wanted that kind of identification for Cana- dian foods. One example was given of imported food being mar­ keted in Foodland Ontario bags. , Mr. Klopp said his government is looking at ways to make sure peo­ ple know what food is grown in Ontario. Current packaging that gives Canadian grades to imported food is frustrating he said. Even a friend from Toronto had thought he was buying food from Canada BRUSSELS LIVESTOCK Division of Gamble & Rogers Ltd. UPCOMING SALES TUESDAYS THURSDAYS FRIDAYS BRUSSELS 887-6461 be used in Mexico although it has been banned in Canada for many years. Mr. Cardiff said he didn't know for sure that DDT was still being used. Mr. Morris said a man in Mr. Cardiffs position (Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agri­ culture) should know that. "You'd better find out," he said. "I don't like the connotation that I should bloody well know if DDT is being used in Mexico," an angry Mr. Cardiff said. He said he couldn't know every­ thing and that he could find out by early Monday morning if Mr. Mor­ ris wanted to know. Mr. Morris also clashed with the provincial member, Paul Klopp when he said problems with pack- Morris said that anglers and hunters want to wipe out deer and game farming but "We are categorically opposed to any legislation that pro­ hibits any species of animal or plant that can be beneficial to soci­ ety from being farmed." Bob Humphries, Ag. Rep. for Huron wondered when others had first heard about the new bill and how it managed to get so far with­ out consultation. Mr. Morris said the bill got first reading Nov. 28 and that second reading was sched­ uled for April. "I can promise you whatever it takes to kill this bill or get input into it, we'll do." because of the Canadian grading on the bag and was shocked to find out it was an imported food. Those present also expressed frustration with what they felt was constant misrepresentation from the Consumers Association of Canada (CAC). Bill Wallace, chairman of the Federation's Trade and Finance committee wondered if the federal government couldn't put pressure on the CAC through the funding it gets, to present a fair picture of farm marketing boards. The CAC, he said, "seems willing to ignore the facts." He said it was "a dis­ grace to let people like Ruth Jack- son stand up and say things they can't substantiate." Tony Morris, OFA director said that food prices have dropped from 20 per cent of family income to 10.8 per cent but even that is too high for the CAC. "The Consumers Association won't be happy until it's zero per cent. It's time farmers said 'no bloody more'." If it means farmers have to block the borders to get their fair share of the food dollar then they should do it. "The federal government must put in place a food security policy." 10 a.m. Slaughter Cattle & Cows 11 a.m. Veal, Goats, Sheep & Lambs 11 a.m. Stockers 1 p.m. Pigs _____________________________ aging that could give consumers the idea a product was grown in Ontario when it was imported had already been brought to the atten­ tion of officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and there had been no action. Mr. Klopp said it was the first time he had heard of the complaint and he would do something about it. Mr. Morris also challenged the media to stop promoting cross-bor­ der shopping by giving the impres­ sion there are huge savings to be made. "A lot of people are going across the border because of big headlines in the press," he claimed. People have been going over the border for years in areas close to the borders but with the headlines people 200 miles from the border started feeling they had to get in on the bandwagon, Mr. Morris said. 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