The Rural Voice, 1993-07, Page 49Ontario Stockyards
to close December 31
The sometimes heated arguments
that took place across Ontario this
past winter over the future of the
Ontario Stock Yards (OSY) in
Toronto have ended with the decision
of the provincial government to close
December 31.
In announcing the closure Elmer
Buchanan, Minister of Agriculture
and Food noted: "When the OSY was
created in 1944, the operation was a
viable marketplace for the province's
livestock, but despite the best efforts
of the OSY's Board, the volume of
cattle marketed in the province over
the past 10 years has fallen steadily,
with the Stock Yard's financial
picture falling with it."
Between 1982 and 1992 total
volume of livestock sold at the OSY
fell from 672,000 to 265,000 head. A
report by Coopers Lybrand in 1990
proposed downsizing the operation
and a plan to modernize and reduce
the size was put forward to the OSY
board, headed by Jack Riddell,
former Minister of Agriculture.
That plan, which had a price tag of
$2.5, was hotly debated at county
meetings of cattle producers during
the winter after the Ontario
Cattlemen's Association (OCA) was
critical of spending more money on a
losing operation. The OCA said the
OSY lost $7500 a week in 1992, not
including the $300,000 in land taxes
paid each year by the provincial
government. Sales of finished market
cattle had dropped from 107,862 head
a year in 1989 to 57,963 in 1992, the
OCA said.
Private market operators like Len
Gamble of Brussels Livestock, who
also operated out of the Toronto yard,
argued that if the OSY could run
without government support and pay
its own property tax, as private stock
yards did, if should continue but
unless it was self-supporting, it
should close.
Riddell said the new, smaller stock
yard would take up only 15 acres
instead of 35 with a major firm
interested in leasing the other 20
News in Agriculture
acres with the revenue to support the
market's operations. The OCA,
however, called for the closure of the
yards and the use of the money to
help fund research into beef
improvement. In the end, Buchanan's
announcement says the OSY land
will be leased to private business and
a "Livestock Industry Trust Fund"
will be set up to use the money
derived from the land rental.
While closure of the yards will not
effect many cattlemen in western
Ontario, cattle producers in the east
had showed more concerns. Most
worried of all are sheep producers
who say OSY handled the largest
volume of sheep and lambs in North
America, meeting the needs of the
growing ethnic population of
Toronto. The OSY was also a price -
setter for the industry offering some
of the world's best lamb prices, they
argued.0
ATTENTION
LANDOWNERS
CURB Program
Grants Available
The goal of the CURB (Clean Up Rural Beaches) Program is to
reduce bacterial and phosphorus water pollution in rivers and at
swimming beaches.
Grants are available to landowners for the repair or replacement
of faulty private septic systems. The farm practices and structures
listed below also qualify.
Eligible Items
Grant Rate Grant Ceiling
- manure storages
- milkhouse waste disposal systems 50%
- fencing livestock from streams
and rivers
- private septic systems
50%
$12,000
$5,000
75% $10,000
50% $2,000
This program is targeted at agricultural and rural residential areas located
upstream of swimming beaches. Financial assistance is limited to those
applicants who are polluting watercourses. Projects with the greatest
potential to improve water quality will be given priority for funding.
For more information or application forms contact the Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority (MVCA) at 335-3557. The CURB program is
funded by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the MVCA.
Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority
Box 127,
Wroxeter, Ontario
NOG 2X0 (519) 335-3557
Ontario
JULY 1993 45