The Rural Voice, 2006-10, Page 56GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: www.ofa.on.caigrey 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
• The Rural Voice is provided to OFA
Members in Grey County by the GCFA
Grey Federation speaks out on Clean Water Act
"Water, water everywhere and nary a
drop to drink." This famous line
comes from the Rhyme of the Ancient
Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
and is a comment on the quality of
drinking water available on the old
seagoing ships. Almost 200 years
have passed since these events
occurred and we are still concerned
about the quality of our drinking
water and the quantity of water
available. Try entering that famous
line in a Google search: you will find
pages and more pages of website
addresses concerning every possible
topic about water.
As you have probably heard, the
Ontario Government is in the process
of implementing Bill 43 "The Clean
Water Act" and as part of the process
they held hearings in several areas of
the province. On August 22 the Grey
County Federation of Agriculture
presented our views concerning this
act in Walkerton. The following is a
summary of that presentation
We made it very clear at the
beginning that we are in no way
opposed to keeping our water
supplies clean. However, we are
opposed to certain sections of the act.
We suggested that the purpose
statement be made more specific
so as to cover municipal water
taking areas and not all wells.
We emphasized the fact that
farmers are generally good
stewards of the environment. We
also pointed out that we already
have several acts and advisories to
follow including the Nutrient
Management Plan, the
Environmental Farm Plans, the
Drainage Act to name just a few.
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
PLEASE NOTE:
THERE WILL BE NQ BOARD OF
DIRECTORS' MEETING IN OCTOBER
BECAUSE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING
NEXT BOARD MEETING WILL BE
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2006.
52 THE RURAL VOICE
We did not see the wisdom in
duplicating programs
We strongly opposed the
"inspector" method of enforcing
the new bylaws. We prefer that the
government set up a stewardship
program with money available to
fix problems that may be found.
We also emphasized the need to
continue studies on water quantity.
Not a lot of data is available on the
total amount of water that is under
ground in Ontario.'
Finally, we emphasized that clean
water is society's responsibility
and as such should be paid for by
society (the Government) and not
solely by farmers.
These are the basic points that we
presented at the hearing. The
complete text can be found on the
Ontario Government website under
Hansard. I would like to thank
Jacquie Hendry and Bill Herron for
help in preparing the presentation; to
Gertie Blake for molding it into a
readable form and again to Jacquie
who assisted with the presentation in
Walkerton.0
— Submitted by Allen Hughes
President, Grey County Federation
of Agriculture
PROTON and EGREMONT FEDERATIONS OF
AGRICULTURE
Annual Meeting
Friday, November 24, 2006 - 7:00 p.m.
Dundalk Legion
Entertainment by Ken Harrison and four -piece band
For tickets confect:
Wayne Caughill 519-923-5996; Ron Wilshire 519-323-3048;
Paul DeJong 510-923-9777; John Hurst 519-923-5599;
Lorne Riddell 519-923-5253; Ken Furlong 519-923-6984;
Lloyd Simpson 519-334-3015
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
66th Annual Meeting and Banquet
and OFA Regional Meeting
Friday, October 13, 2006
Markdale Community Centre
Guest Speaker:
Chris Attema, OPP, OCA, OSMA Water Quality Specialist
Social: 6:30 p.m. Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
Tickets: $17.50 per person
(available from Township Presidents or the Federation office)
Note: OFA Regional Directors, Delegates and Alternates for OFA
Convention and GCFA Presidents will be elected at the meeting