The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 58BRUCE
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1 P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to Bruce
County Fanners by the BCFA.
Keeping the politicians informed about farm concerns
Is agriculture on the right path?
What are your concerns? Members of
the Bruce County Federation and
invited guests had the opportunity to
express their concerns to our Federal
MP Murray Cardiff on April 2 at our
annual "Meet The Members" night.
Unfortunately, provincial concerns
were not addressed due to a mix-up in
communications with Murray Elston's
local office. However, Murray
Cardiff was kept busy not only
responding to our brief but also to
questions from the floor. Some of the
highlights of the evening follow for
those who were not able to be there.
1. Presently OFA is negotiating for
increased coverage from 80 per cern
to 85 per cent of a farmer's average
yield for 93/94 in GRIP. There was
not much response on this as it will
cost more money. Along with GRIP
was the concern about the long,
complicated NISA forms that must be
filled in. Murray assured us that the
government is continuing to try and
simplify the forms and has, in fact,
reduced this year's form by about 20
per cent. The government is
continuing to add more crops to GRIP
with the aim of eventually covering
everything. They arc also looking at
allowing farmers to make deposits to
their NISA account if they wish even
when their income tax return shows
no profit, in order to build up the
account as a retirement savings plan.
With regard to Farm Credit, with
the passage now of Bill C95, Farm
Credit will be able to loan money for
agriculturally related businesses with
no cap on the amount. FCC can also
borrow on the open money market
now instead of just from the
government which should allow them
more flexibility in their interest rates
and keep them closer in line with the
chartered banks.
2. In world trade and the GATT
Murray assured us that the
government is still adamant on
strengthening Article XI to protect and
enhance supply management systems.
54 THE RURAL VOICE
With recent elections in various
countries around the world, there now
appears to be more interest in
achieving an overall GATT agreement
and Murray is optimistic that it will be
resolved.
Closer to home with the Canada/
U.S. Trade Agreement, Murray felt
the outcome of the pork countervail
challenge would be in our favour.
Since the meeting, the Tribunal did
rule in favour of Canada and order
that $10 million dollars should be paid
hack to the Canadian pork producers.
Now we just have to wait and see if
that happens.
As to our concerns regarding the
NAFTA and its desire to harmonize
regulations e.g. food standards
between the three countries, Murray
assured us that our standards would
not be lowered and Canada would
only allow food or food products to
come in that meet our levels of quality
and safety. He commented that
labelling needs to be harmonized
within Canada, between provinces,
before we can do much
internationally.
Under the Canada/U.S. Trade
Agreement water per se is not a
commodity that can be traded. It must
be altered in some way i.e. bottled or
carbonated, etc. Some of the
provincial issues of concern to the
Bruce Federation are the following:
1. What impact might the Fair Tax
Commission have on agriculture and
what is the probability of a resolution
to the farm tax rebate programme by
the F.T.C.?
2. What is the timetable of the
Sewell Commission and the changes
they are proposing for the Planning
Act? If farmland needs to be
preserved for the benefit of society,
then society should compensate those
willing to do that sufficiently.
3. Under drainage, there is concern
that some farmers, through changes in
legislation, may have to preserve
wetlands on their farms without any
compensation for loss of productivity.
4. The Federation would like to
see more money made available under
the CURB programme similar to the
levels of grants available at municipal
levels for waste treatment. Even if the
caps were increased it would
encourage more farmers to address
many of their manure problems.
We appreciate Grey MPP Bill
Murdoch's attendance and his
comments on some of the above
issues from his perspective.
One of the finer moments of the
evening was the presentation of the
Tommy Cooper Award to an
outstanding member of the
agricultural community from Bruce
and Grey counties. With 11 highly
qualified candidates, the judges had a
difficult decision picking only one.
However, Gerald Poechman, with his
wide interest and involvement in
many farm organizations as well as
religious groups involved in the
community, was selected as the
recipient. We certainly congratulate
Gerry and his family for his
dedication to trying to help improve
the rural way of life and also to make
farming a more viable enterprise for
all those engaged in it. Gerry's
continued involvement is a plus for
Bruce County and beyond.0
Grant Collins
Director, Huron Township
Chesley Agri -Fair
Free Draw Winners
Dennis White, R.R. 4, Paisley
(socket set); Amy Elder, R.R. 4,
Chesley (set of wrenches) and
Sheila Klerks, Chesley (toolbox).
Bruce County
Federation of Agriculture
Directors' Meeting
Monday, May 31, 1993
8:00 p.m.
OMAF Boardroom, Walkerton
Members are welcome to attend