The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 48Ag funding blasted
If governments can find money to
spend on helicopters and subway
extensions, they should be able to
find it to help agriculture survive,
Huron's members of parliament were
told at the briefing luncheon held by
the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture in Clinton on March 27.
Federation President Bill Wallace
said, in his brief to Murray Cardiff,
MP for Huron -Bruce and Paul Klopp,
MPP for Huron that he realized the
purchase of helicopters by the federal
government and the extension of the
Toronto subway by the provincial
government creates jobs but "So
could investing in agriculture, with
the added benefit of ensuring long-
term food security."
Cardiff defended the purchase of
the $5.8 billion EH 101 helicopters,
saying they were within the defence
department budget and will be paid
for over 13 or 14 years. He said it
means 45,000 man-years of
employment and said he wouldn't
want a son or daughter of his flying
around in the elderly helicopters the
navy is now using.
Similarly Klopp said the $1.5
billion for the Toronto subway
extension is spread over several
years. People in Toronto used the
same argument to support the project
that the Ministry of Agriculture made
in arguing support for farmers, Klopp
said: that it would create jobs.
But John VanderBurgt reacted
angrily to what he saw as a lack of
commitment to agriculture. "If
agriculture is not a functional
industry in Ontario then tell us!," he
told Klopp. "We're being killed a
little at a time." If the province isn't
committed to agriculture it should let
farmers know so they can get out of
the business, he said.
"Down the line we're going to have
token farmers," VanderBurgt said.
"People will be able to go out to the
country and see a farmer but we're
going to get our food from Mexico."
Bob Down of Hensall said many
farmers are concerned agriculture "is
going to take a hit" when cuts are
made to the Ontario budget. Klopp
said he and Minister of 'Agriculture
and Food Elmer Buchanan arc
44 THE RURAL VOICE
News in Agriculture
"trying to argue that agriculture is
one of the things that keep the
economy going."
Down noted that while most
provincial departments have grown or
held their own, agriculture's budget
has declined and he asked what
farmers can do to support Buchanan
and Klopp to keep strong support for
agriculture. Klopp said to keep
making the argument that agriculture
drives the economy.
Tom Cunningham, reeve of Hullett
Township and head of the county's
Agriculture, Planning and
Development committee said that
while people like Klopp are working
to keep support for agriculture, the
agriculture budget is now less than
one per cent. If there must be cuts, he
said, Klopp should remember that the
frontline people in the local OMAF
offices are the most important to the
farmers. He noted that the
agricultural engineers have already
been lost at the local level. "People
have to see the benefits at the local
level," he said.
Pat Down, reeve of Usborne
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Township, echoed that request. The
programs being delivered to farmers
shouldn't be cut, she said, but the
administration should take the hit.
In other business, the federal
government's investment tax credit,
now restricted to equipment, should
be extended to buildings in order to
pump money into the local economy,
Tony Morris, executive member of
the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture, told Cardiff.
Morris pointed out that the tax
credit has spurred sales of farm
machinery but most of this equipment
is imported and doesn't create a lot of
jobs in Canada.
Cardiff said the idea has merit. He
noted that while on a trip to western
Canada, he found farm machinery
companies, were far behind on orders
because of the demand created by the
credit.
Morris said that while
manufacturers in western Canada
have been benefited, Ontario and
Quebec have a strong livestock base
and pumping money into new
buildings would provide more jobs.0
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