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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1999-11-03, Page 15THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1999. PAGE 15. CFFO suggests linking safety programs, enix initiatives The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario is recommending that existing safety net programs be linked to environmental stewardship initiatives. The CFFOs provincial board, con sisting of farmers from 22 districts OFAH court Despite the withdrawal of a part nering organization, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) remains highly optimistic enroute to court hearings to prove, once and for all, that hunting is a right, not just a privilege in Canada. This week’s announcement that the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters (NOTO) is withdrawing from the high profile constitutional court case was disappointing, but in no way jeopardizes the OFAH’s chances of winning, declared Rick Morgan, OFAH executive vice pres ident. “We felt that NOTO could have brought an important perspective to our case. However, now it will be up to the OFAH to represent the interests of the outfitters, guides and lodging businesses as well as aver age hunters, anglers and trappers,” Morgan said. The withdrawal from the constitu tional challenge also indicates that NOTO believes the OFAH can win this case on its own, added Morgan who noted that NOTO now gets the best of both worlds. “Now NOTO can pursue the gov ernment (of Ontario) for financial compensation for its members and then sit back and wait for us to win the right to hunt. Winning the right to hunt should, ultimately, lead to New Jr. Farmer Club The Junior Farmer Association of Ontario is proud to have another club starting up within the province. On Oct. 17, 18 people met in Kinburn to start the first Junior Farmer Club in Huron County since 1995. Creating rural leaders in Ontario through self help and community betterment since 1944, the JF pro gram is for youth between the ages of 15-29. The Huron County Club will be working hard this fall to meet their affiliation requirements as set out by the provincial organization. They are off to a great start with their election of officers which stands as follows: president, Murray Whyte, Seaforth; vice-president, Becky Campbell, Seaforth; Tim Coultes, provincial director, Belgrave; treasurer, Pam Bennett, Stratford; Amy Shortreed, secretary, Walton; Derek Maloney, social across Ontario, adopted the recom mendation linking environmental care to safety nets for several rea sons. Those reasons include: a faith commitment to caring for the cre ation, the need to refocus public financial support away from farm case strong the return of the spring bear hunt, but, now, the OFAH must bear 100 per cent of the cost and workload,” Morgan explained. The loss of the spring hunt left many tourist operators facing bank ruptcy, and negotiations between NOTO and the governments for financial compensation were frozen when the court case was jointly launched by the two organi zations. The Government of Ontario announced the impending closure of the spring hunt last January, and, despite overwhelming public sup port for continuing the hunt, formal ly cancelled the event last spring. The OFAH went to court in April to get an injunction against cancella- lion of the spring hunt and to deter mine if there was sufficient evidence to warrant a constitutional chal lenge. Although Justice Irwin Stach declined to grant an injunction, he clearly stated there were grounds to proceed to a more senior court where constitutional arguments on the government’s bear hunt decision could be heard. The OFAH is Ontario’s largest, non-govemment, conservation orga nization with more than 81,000 indi vidual members and 610 member clubs. director, Dublin; Karen Bergsma, press reporter, Londesboro; Dan Hoggart, sports/recreation, Londesboro. One of the first events they have planned is on Nov. 6, where they are sponsoring a bus to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto and Stampede Ranch in Guelph. For a small fee of $30 participants over the age of 19 will enjoy bus trans portation, admission to the Royal and admission to the Stampede Ranch. The deluxe coach departs Seaforth Arena at 9 a.m. sharp and Brussels Arena at 9:30 a.m. sharp, Nov. 6 with a return to Huron County at approximately 3:30 a.m. Nov. 7. If you wish more information regarding the club, would like to join or would like to book a seat on the bus please contact Whyte at (5 19) 527-1781 or Campbell at (519)527-2434. production; and the prevention of possible countervail actions from trading partners. “Linking safety nets to steward ship initiatives is an important way of giving something back for the welcome public support of agricul ture,” said Bob Bedggood, president of the CFFO. “It's not only the right thing to do, but linking environmen tal stewardship to safety nets is also a good foundation for ensuring long-term public support for farm ing.” Existing safety nets in Ontario require a financial contribution from both farmers and government. As part of its deliberations on safety nets and the environment, the CFFO is recommending that farmers be able to contribute their share of the safety net package---in lieu of a premium payment---through on- farm projects identified in the action plans of their Environmental Farm Plan. “Project^ like buffer strips along streams or the capping of old water wells should be valid in-kind farmer contributions towards safety nets,” said Bedggood. “This is a good way for farmers to tackle on-farm pro jects to benefit the environment without creating new financial incentive programs.” The CFFO proposal to link envi ronmental stewardship initiatives to existing safety nets is part of a broader proposal the Federation has developed on farm safety nets. 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The cost of production would follow a continuous progression of input cost changes throughout the year. But to make it work well we would need firm limits on payouts, as well as commitment to a number of other factors.” In addition to triggering formulas and environmental linkage, the rest of the CFFO proposal contains the following highlights: • The continuation of crop insur ance with its existing principles and support for the continuing pat tern of minor improvements to keep the program up-to-date and to keep the financial cost manage able. • Support for optional unit cover age as long as the increased costs of this additional coverage is paid for by the purchaser. No addition public subsides for the premiums. • Support for Net Incon Stabilization Accounts as the pi mary long-term mechanism f< transferring financial support farm families. Support is ak given to NISA enhancements f all currently eligible commoditie and family farm modifications the overall program that puts elig bility limits on how much mom governments will contribute to tl accounts. * • Grudging support for Mark Revenue Insurance. While tf moderation of commodity pri< swings is appreciate, concern th the program gets built into the co of production for commoditii does exist. • Rejection of the Whole Far Disaster Relief Program-AIDA a third line of defense safety n program. 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