Huron Expositor, 2006-02-01, Page 3The Huron Expositor • February 1, 2006 Page 3
News -
Help line for farmers having financial struggles
Struggling farmers unable to help top'up provincial funding for counselling service
Jeff H e u c h e r t
Just like farmers across Ontario
who continue to struggle to make a
living, the Ontario Farm Line, a
telephone emotional support ser-
vice, is running into its own finan
cial troubles.
Chair for the Farm Line, Dennis
St. Pierre, says the -$18,000 in fund-
ing from the provincial government
each year, is no longer adequate.
He says that the line runs a bud-
get of $200,000 a year, and has
always counted on donations from
farm and corporate organizations,
as well as individuals to help fund
the service.
But as farmers have struggled to
make a profit, with commodity
prices dropping and more govern-
ment regulations, donations have
continued to decline.
"Over the past year and a half
they've (donations) been going down
hill," he says.
As a result, St. Pierre met with
Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs,
back in September, asking her for
more funding.
In response to their meeting St.
Pierre received a letter from
Dombrowsky stating, "I feel that
this level of funding is appropriate
for the service provided. I would
encourage your organization to con-
tinue exploring other options to
meet your organizations financial
needs."
Unfortunately, St. Pierre says,
"Those options have all been
explored over the last two years,"
and there's nowhere else to look for
funding.
St. Pierre adds that these difficul-
ties have come at a bad time.
"In the past two to three months
we have been getting a lot of calls in
western Ontario. It's been a hot
spot," he says.
According to the Canadian
Agricultural Safety Association
(CASA), in a report released in
January 2005, the three major
stressors facing Ontario farmers
are: poor harvest and production,
government policies and farm
finances.
St. Pierre says these are the most
common issues farmers .in Ontario
have been discussing when they've
called the Farm Line over the past
year.
The report also made a series of
recommendations to the govern-
ment, necessary to protect farmers.
Number one on that list was cre-
ating stable funding for all tele-
phone stress lines.
In Manitoba, a similar phone sup-
port service is available, that
received around the same amount
of calls as Ontario's line did in 2005,
but receives $300,000 for funding
from their provincial government.
In Saskatchewan, their support
line receives $400,000 worth of
funding.
St. Pierre says the service is not
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much dif-
ferent than
what many
other pro-
fessions
have as an
assistance
program.
" W e
have gov-
ernment
employees
who are telling us there is no need
for one (an assistance program for
farmers), but they have one them-
selves," he says.
The Farm Line is so low on money,
not one of the Farm Line's profes-
sionally -trained call councillors are
being paid.
When St. Pierre travels across the
country for meetings, he is paying
for all of the expenses out of his
own pocket.
Although the Farm Line is a non-
profit organization, St. Pierre says
they should have enough money to
pay their councillors and for travel-
ling expenses.
St. Pierre is working on schedul-
ing another meeting with
Dombrowsky, where he says he
"wants to hear it from her own lips,"
if she's not going to give them more
funding.
St. Pierre says "I'll lay the blame
on the agriculture minister," if no
additional funding is given.
More importantly, St. Pierre says
he's "afraid that will be it," and they
will no longer be able to operate a
support line in Ontario.
"We can't be expected to fund
everything," he says.
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