The Rural Voice, 2006-12, Page 19and a lot of them are
on the farmers' side,
but unfortunately a
lot of them aren't
MPPs," Murdoch
said.
"I think [the
government] has
abandoned rural
Ontario, they know
the votes are in the
big city and I don't
think they're going to
get anything from
these guys."
Although Robert
Emerson, president
of the Bruce County
Federation of
Agriculture also has
no plans to follow
suit on this initiative, he agrees that
more could be done at the
government level.
"I really think the government is
missing the point, that being that
sometimes an investment is needed,"
Emerson said.
Liberal MPP for Huron/Bruce
Carol Mitchell disagrees,
saying that her government has
committed sizable funds to
agriculture.
"That is just absolute ludicrous.
It's a very easy comment to make for
people who don't really take the time
to look into things," Mitchell said.
"$910 million is what we have
provided in income stabilization over
three years. Your federal government
hasn't even committed that level of
support. That's an easy statement and
it rolls off the lips."
Thompson says that all he wants
is RMP from the government and
that alone.
"If the government approved
RMP, I'd be the first one to go out
and help stake trails," Thompson
said.
This is what many of the farmers
who support this initiative feel —
they have no animosity towards the
snowmobiling community.
Support in numbers is what is
needed to get change so that the
farmers can go back to business as
usual. Thompson says that farmers
do have friends, but not vocal
supporters.
"We're in trouble here. If you
don't do something with or for us,
Bill Murdoch
Says Liberals abandoning rural
Ontario
Carol Mitchell
Defends Liberal record
we're not going to be in business,
we're not going to own the land, then
the trails will stay closed
permanently," Thompson said:
"We're saying, `yeah, you might
be our friends, but our friends
haven't done a whole lot for us.'
We've got nowhere being nice. We
feel we have no choice."
Bev Hill, a very vocal supporter of
this initiative and an active member
of the Grassroots movement knows
the issue is not unanimous among the
farmers in the area, but feels
comfortable with where he stands on
the issue.
"Farmers weren't happy. We had
just completed the third of the three
worst years economically t,n
Canadian agriculture. Simultan-
eously, the U.S. farmers had just
completed the third of their three best
years, so we weren't happy," says
Hill, who cites the U.S. Farm Bill as
a major factor in the current situation.
"We felt uncomfortable when we
saw the public being happy using our
farmland and we weren't able to get
any happiness out of that very same
farmland growing food. So we felt
uncomfortable about that."
Hill does feel, however, that
things could have been different and
that the issue could have possibly
been resolved by now if the OFA had
stepped in.
"We do not have the support of
the OFA and we're really
disappointed about that. We feel that
if they had taken a leadership role
there's a good chance that this issue
could have been
resolved pretty
quickly," Hill said.
"It's become a very
divisive issue, not
only within the
farming community,
but within the
snowmobiling
community and that's
really unfortunate."
In a press release,
the OFSC made a
point of saying that
they support the
landowners in
whatever decision
they make. The
OFSC has had a long-
standing relationship
with the landowners
who have never been compensated
for the use of their land.
Karen Buratynski, operations
director for District 9 of the Ontario
Federation of Snowmobile Clubs,
says that as of The Rural Voice's
deadline, she had received but six
formal land revocations from
landowners in her district; a district
that covers 3,500 kilometres of
snowmobile trail.
"They are our landowners and we
do respect their right to do this, but
our business is building and
maintaining snowmobile trails and
we have an obligation to our permit -
buyers to do that," Buratynski said.
"All of our clubs will be moving
forward, business as usual this year
and if there are some landowners
who do decide to close their trails,
the trails will be rerouted where
possible and there still will definitely
be snowmobiling in District 9 this
year."
Buratynski adds that in addition
to the mere six revocation
notices that she has received,
her personal opinion is that trail
closures in District 9 will not be
widespread.
Thompson says he cannot
speculate one way or the other as to
what will happen by spring, but he
doesn't think that there is a lot of
opposition out there among his
farmers.
"It's been quiet, too quiet. If there
was going to be a huge groundswell
of opposition, it would have already
happened, but it just hasn't,"
DECEMBER 2006 15