The Rural Voice, 1980-01, Page 12OFA Convention:
Impressions
BY ADRIAN VOS
The , annual convention of the Ontario
Federation of 'Agriculture held the last
week of Nozember was one of the best
ever. There were fewer resolutions and
that was all to the good, for the shorter list
had very few "motherhood" resolutions.
One of the highlights was the address of
the outgoing president, Peter Hannam. He
stressed that the theme of the convention,
that the '80's will be a challenge,is not a
mere expression, for this time the chal-
lenges will be greater than ever because of
the rapid changes in our whole society.
The whole convention was one of
positive thinking and it is hoped that the
farm community will pick up this positive
approach and apply it everywhere in the
daily interface with the other half of
society.
Examples of this positive approach were
the three policy papers presented. On
energy, on farming practices, and on farm
politics in relation to general politics, the
thrust was to go out and do something
instead of waiting for direction by govern-
ments.
On energy: give us more information and
some grants, and we will take it from there.
On the Code of Practice: replace it with a
Code of Rights for the farmer to administer
and society won't be sorry.
On politics: let's get involved ourselves
and influence government policy through
personal and organized lobbying.
Another observation that comes out of
this gathering of farm leaders is that there
still is the old ambiguity that on one hand
subsidies are accepted and demanded as a
right and almost in the same breath
subsidies are condemned as being the
realm of the beggar.
A few examples will demonstrate this.
Just two years ago the OFA was unable to
get sufficient support for a property tax
exemption proposal by the Ontario govern-
ment. The main reason given by the
opponents was that it was a handout and
that farmers were too proud to pay less
than their share of taxation compared to
other businesses.
On this, and previous meetings, the
grants and subsidies considered to be a
right of the farmer can't be counted on the
fingers of one hand. Here are some:
1. that the present property tax rebate
continue
2. that farmers be exempted from sales tax
on numerous inputs such as building
material for animal shelters; yards; feed
storage; hoppers and tanks; implement
sheds; drying, curing and ensilage build-
ings; fruit and vegetable storage; green-
houses; such material to include concrete,
lumber, hardware, doors, windows, roof-
ing glass, wood and metal preservatives
and electrical and plumbing material.
3. Low interest drainage loans; grants for
fence building; rebate of greenhouse fuel;
exemption from fuel excise tax; contin-
uation of subsidized premiums for stabiliz-
ation and crop insurance plans.
4. that fed. and prov. governments expand,
renew and develop a program of grants
and/or forgiveable loans.
Another conflict in thinking came to the
fore. Should OFA try to dictate to supply
management marketing boards what the
policy on quota should be?
A majority thought that bad publicity of
a poorly designed quota policy of any
board could jeopardize the future of
quotas of another board, as well as the
good name of the whole farming commun-
ity, and that this concern would justify the
giving of "advice" to quota boards.
A minority thought that if one was not
involved directly with the board in question
one could not judge on the ramifications of
quota policies because of unfamiliarity with
the problems and the potential problems.
A short debate on metric conversion
showed clearly that there is a silent
majority of some proportion that stands
behind metric conversion. A motion to turn
back the clock or to stop it was supported
by only a handful of delegates.
Confusion was still rampant about the
size of the membership fee. It appears that
the OFA has done a poor job in explaining
that the membership fee is 550 and that the
member who pays his fee via computer
check -off gets a five dollar rebate. Most
delegates seemed to think that the member.
ship fee is 545 and that there is a penalty
for manual renewal.
The chicken import quota was a sore
point and it was quite obvious that
producers felt that they were betrayed and
sold out by the federal government.
A final impression, not confined to this
convention,is the leadership of the OFA.
Extremely capable people are now vying
for a position on the executive. The voters
are well aware of this and have come up
PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE/JANUARY 1980
with executives that combine hardnosed
business sense with compassionate regard
for society as a whole.
How the new executive will function
under the leadership of Ralph Barrie will
be judged at next year's convention. Peter
Hannam will be a hard act to follow, but so
was Gordon Hill.
Peter Hannam can be likened to a corset.
Under the soft cover there is the toughest
steel that man can make. It bends to the
body it supports and it always springs back
to its original form. It is elastic enough that
it can accomodate a growing body and it
will support its new contours.
Having set the OFA on its new, more
positive course, Hannam promised to keep
in close touch, and the OFA would be well
advised to use his talents wherever
possible.
A non -delegate
point of view
BY GISELE IRELAND
Problems of farmers across Ontario were
aired at the recent OFA Convention held in
Toronto. We had a lot of them, but boy
were we glad to get back home to them too.
City dwellers envied those of us who lived
in the country and well they should from
what I viewed there . . . buildings and
people and a myriad of languages and any
assortment of cultures you could wish. You
don't have to travel to see how different
people live. Just visit Toronto and go -to each
ethnic part of the city. Fascinating. Rurals
are definitely different and we should
glorify our difference, not minimize it. We
are lucky.
The problems discussed ranged from
environment to high interest rates and
import tariff problems They were well
presented and those_ _fa. ,.,ers who repre-
sented their areas inOntu. i..deserve a lot of
credit. They covered a lot of ground in the
meeting rooms for three days. It made you
wonder how many farmers were left that
felt that once a product left the farm gate it
was someone else's problem. The point
made there was that our involvement
should just have begun. If someone can sell
the public a brush that can take dog hair off
clothes like magic we should be able to
market successfully the basic food needs
we provide. We are familiar with pctk on
your fork and milk makes it but the only
chicken we have heard of is Colonel
Sanders. We should perhaps put a lot more
effort into this area. Make food fashion-
able. Eggs make good sense so why not
plug chicken, beef, corn or whatever. We
can do it if anyone can.
Air and water pollution came in for a lot
of debate and since it obviously affects us
all, was very important. When the