HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-10-17, Page 1The Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
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Pg. 25 kicks off Campaign
2001
Former
MPP
heads
OMAFRA
tribunal
Murray Cardiff of Brussels has
been appointed as the new chair of
the Ontario Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal
(AFRAAT).
Cardiff is involved in a family farm
business specializing in livestock and
pedigreed seed production. He is a
former MP for Huron-Bruce.. He
acted as Parliamentary Secretary to
the Minister of Agriculture and the
Solicitor General of Canada.
Cardiff was first appointed to
Ontario Farm Products Appeal
Tribunal in March 199'7 and has been
a member of AFRAAT since
December 1999.
Cardiff said he is looking forward
to working with the rural community
and plans to continue the tradition of
openness that the tribunal has
embraced. He said "I want to carry
on with a hearing format where
people will appear before us
formally, but not so much so that
they are uncomfortable".
The Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs Appeal Tribunal hears
appeals on a variety of agricultural
matters including disputes related to
drainage, marketing board decisions,
crop insurance, licensing, milking
quality, farm implements and farm
property class tax. It also accredits
general farm organizations and it
reviews applications for religious
exemptions.
Its mission is to "provide to anyone
in Ontario's agricultural sector
aggrieved by a direction, policy,
order or a decision, a fair and
responsible appeal and decision
process."
Cardiff succeeds Jim Rickard
whose appointment expired earlier
this year.
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
New systems of tracing food from
farm to plate are even more
important following the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, says Jack
Wilkinson, president of the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture.
Wilkinson, speaking to the annual
meeting of the Huron County
Federation of Agriculture in Seaforth
on Oct. 11, said farmers are in danger
of being pushed off the political
agenda because of concerns over
security, but those same concerns
should make consumers more aware
of food security. If consumers were
worried about the safety of things
like pesticide use and genetic
modification of food before Sept. I I,
they should be even more worried
about food safety now, Wilkinson
saw.
Consumers should be aware of the
efforts of all farm commodities to put
Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Points (HACCP) systems in place
that will allow foods to be traced
from the grocery store, back through
processing to the farm of origin with
the procedures recorded at each step
of the way.
And if consumers are worried
about food security they should want
their food to be produced here in
Canada, he said. It wasn't only truck
plants that closed down because of
delivery problems because of
holdups at the border, he said.
Imported food was also delayed and
the five major food warehouses in
Toronto have only one week's food
supply in stock.
"If people are nervous about the
border, surely we have made the
point that we need food production
in Canada," Willcinson said.
This approach is part of a
campaign to be launched by OFA
this winter to create what Wilkinson
called a "contract with consumers"
which will persuade , consumers it's
worth supporting farmers in order to
get benefits consumers want. The
concept is modeled after an approach
used in Sweden which convinced
consumers to pay slightly more to
support Swviish farmers. The
concept not only gets consumers
listening to farmers, but has farmers
more aware of consumers' concerns,
Wilkinson said.
Through this system, Swedish
farmers got financial benefits for
reducing the use of pesticides to
meet consumers concerns. Since the
early 1990s Ontario farmers have cut
Continued on page 19
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
At its Oct. 9 meeting a delegation
headed by Gwen Devereaux, of the
Business Retention and Expansion
Committee (BREC) appeared before
Huron East council to once again
discuss business development in the
municipality.
A presentation on behalf of the
committee was made by Selena
Anderson. Anderson emphasized the
need for quick action to hire a
business development practitioner
who would begin preparing a
business strategy for Huron East.
The suggested short-term solution
was to use the $25,000 already
designated for economic
development to fund an 11-week
contract to create a Huron East
Economic Development Committee.
The committee would be composed
of representatives of all economic and
geographic sectors in the
municipality and would aid an
economic development office to
begin preparing a development action
plan.
Anderson stated that a business
development officer would have a
responsibility to help both new and
existing businesses. She said, "Ninety
per cent of new jobs come from
existing businesses, so it is important
to keep them happy."
She went on to emphasize the nee.'
for a fast turnaround of information
when a new business makes inquiries.
Luke Janmaat, of Progressive Turf
Equipment, speaking in favour of
hiring a business development officer,
said, "We are a bigger community.
There are 10,000 people in this game
and it's a different arena now. We
really need someone to keep in touch
with industry."
When it was suggested that some
might consider the economic climate
inappropriate for an investment in
business development, Anderson
disagreed. She said, "The most
positive step you can take even if the
economy was to go into a recession
would be to develop an economic
strategy for Huron East.
Council could not make a decision
at this time because of the pressure of
other business on the agenda. The
subject was taken up again at the
Committee of the Whole meeting on
Oct. 9.
The preliminary discussion
concerned the fact that the budget
contained a $25,000 item for
economic development which had
never been used. Deputy Mayor
Bernie MacLellan said, "Where the
ball was dropped was that there was
no direction from council. The group
was told they had the money but
communication was not kept up in
either direction."
MacLellan went on to suggest that
perhaps council consider waiting
until the next budget and adding the
current $25,000 to whatever was
Continued on page 6
Volume 17 No. 41
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2001 75 Cents (70c + 5c GST)
Developing
business
on Huron E
agenda
In training
Blyth Public School students are preparing for the annual cross-country meet to be held at
Hullett Central next Monday (rain date is Tuesday). Taking advantage of a nice autumn day to
get themselves in racing form at the Greenway Trail were, from left: Kerissa VanAmersfoort,
Skye Cook, Blake Miller, Adam Young (in back), Stephanie Sanderson and Jenny MacDonald.
(Bonnie Gropp photo)
OFA president says food security
should be on consumers' minds
Brussels woman Pg. 26 goes to Jerusalem
Blyth Skating Club
Pg. 27 plans home tour