The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 36WARD
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NOM 1S0 235-0120
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Orangeville
77 Broadway, 2nd floor,
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Wiarton
Box 249,
NON 2T0
• 534-1520
Where Hopper
Goes the Water
Flows.
Call Collect
Neil 527-1737
James 527-0775
Durl 527-0828
W.D. HOPPER
& SONS !,�
WATER WELL DRILLING
R.R. #2
Seaforth : !/
Since -
1915 •
34 1 -HL RURAL ‘OICL
FARM NEWS
Ontario Budget is coming in May
When Ontario farmers are
planting their corn in May, provin-
cial members of parliament will be
mulling over the 1986 budget.
When Bob Nixon, Ontario
Treasurer, and a farmer himself
was in opposition as a provincial
member of parliament, he spoke
out strongly about the "inade-
quacies of the farm budget"
because it was about one per cent
of Ontario's overall budget. Since
the total budget rises at the rate of
seven or eight per cent at a time, it
is difficult to squeeze the farm por-
tion above the one per cent mark
where it is now, Nixon told
farmers at the Ontario Corn Pro-
ducers annual meeting in Waterloo
recently.
"I don't believe there is enough
money in the provincial treasury,
or any treasury anywhere to
restore prosperity to a farm com-
munity lacking international
markets and reasonable prices for
our products. And I think most of
you understand that," he said to
corn producers.
Nixon says the government has
made a commitment to improve
the allocation of dollars to
agriculture. Much of this money
will be spent on programs that are
not just temporary band-aids,
"although every now and then a
band-aid cheque is quite nice to
receive," he says. "The programs
will be designed to help farmers
compete in world markets and, to
some extent, compete in Canadian
markets."
Nixon recently met with the
Minister of Finance in Quebec and
discussed, among other things, the
farm programs in each province.
"Most of us here know that over
the last decade and longer, the in-
itiatives of Quebec have out -paced
most of the other farm provinces.
These programs have resulted in
considerable percentages of farm
markets being transferred from
other provinces to Quebec. That
was their intention. They were sup-
porting farmers in their province."
However, the new treasurer recent-
ly told the national assembly in
Quebec that taxpayers are paying a
very high burden to support the
farm community. "From his point
of view they are going to have to
make some adjustments."
In Ontario we compare
ourselves to Quebec. "Their per
capita payment to farmers ap-
proaches $9,000 and ours is about
half that." So when farmers, par-
ticularly beef farmers, says it's
tough to compete with the Quebec
treasury, there is some truth to it.
"I suppose we (in Ontario) are try-
ing to adjust our support (for
farmers) upward as much as our
budget can bear — as much as can
be justified."
The Nixon family farm, which
has been in the family for five
generations, has itself undergone
some interesting challenges to
maintain production. First, the
250 -acre farm was sliced in two for
a new highway. Then in 1950 an oil
pipeline was needed and the Nixon
farm was chosen. A few years
later, a high-tension hydro cor-
ridor with nine towers was re-
quired; the Nixon farm was chosen
again. Ontario Hydro compen-
sated them with a one time amount
of $75 per tower. When Nixon
himself had already become a
member of the provincial govern-
ment, an addition to the hydro
route was required but this time at
least it didn't go through the Nixon
farm. A neighbour concerned that
the new hydro route would go
through his farm and interfere
with ducks asked Nixon's help to
get the corridor re-routed. It ended
up through Nixon's farm again.
In preparing the 1986 Ontario
budget, in addition to talking to in-
terest groups and other provinces,
Nixon has looked at Michael
Wilson's federal budget. He says
he supports the aims of that budget
100 per cent. The aims are to
reduce the deficit, reduce
unemployment, and reduce in-
terest rates for business people —
the same aims Nixon has for his
budget. Both interest rates and the
unemployment rate are lower now
than they have been. Nixon hopes
to bring the unemployment rate
down to seven per cent or even the
high decimals of six per cent. Infla-
tion has slowed to four per cent
and real growth for the economy is
improving as well. "There is a firm