The Rural Voice, 1985-01, Page 18From top: Delegates at the convention from Grey County, Perth County,
Rainy River, Bruce County, and Huron County.
16 THE RURAL VOICE
all roots are part of the same plant.
For agriculture to thrive, we must
realize that all of us are intertwined."
Provincial agriculture minister,
Dennis Timbrell, during a luncheon
speech on Monday, announced the
extension of the OFAAP loan pro-
gram and a new program, The Op-
erating Loan Assistance Program
(OLAP). The new program will pro-
vide government guarantees on
operating credit at not more than
prime plus one per cent.
Unable to resist the temptation to
do a little campaigning, Timbrell
said, "If I become premier, they'll be
no more one-year loan programs like
OFAAP. I'll make it a priority for my
government to develop a permanent
program to meet these needs."
In his speech at the Wednesday lun-
cheon, Federal agriculture minister
John Wise echoed Glen Flaten, presi-
dent of the Canadian Federation of
Agriculture, when he said that there is
no sign of an increase in farm income
over the next two or three years.
The two had different opinions
about Canagrex, however. Flaten
said that the Conservatives had not
given Canagrex a fair trial and had
cancelled it without any consultation
whatsoever. Wise said that Canagrex
was cancelled because industry refus-
ed to work with it. Some sales were
almost lost because of Canagrex's in-
volvement, he said, but when pressed,
he refused to be specific.
Wise said that the Conservatives
supported the concept of supply
management but he did not believe it
was applicable to the red -meat in-
dustry.
When questioned by Wayne Ro-
bertson, president of the Bruce Coun-
ty Federation of Agriculture, about
how to get a price for red -meat reflec-
ting the cost of production, Wise had
no definite answer, saying only that
he intended to do something about
the large volumes of meat coming in-
to Canada from EEC countries.
Presenting the financial statement
for the current year and the budget
for 1984-85, executive director Harry
Zwerver said there would be no fee
increase. He warned, however, that
the budget figures were based on a
projected membership level of 25,000
paid family members during 1985.
Despite this, the delegates showed
their reluctance to move toward any
type of mandatory membership when
they narrowly defeated (180 to 199) a
resolution sponsored by Lambton
County calling for a mandatory
check -off on the property tax rebate.❑