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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1979-02-14, Page 11Foreign speculation in farmland poses TnreaT to Jnr. agriculTUI e Fcreig0 speculation in Ontario farmland poses a threat to agriculture and could drive up the cost of food, members of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture warned represen- tatives of the provincial and federal governments at a meeting in Clinton Saturday.ry. A brief prepared by Ger Fortune and John VanBeers called on the government to take note of the dangers posed by absentee foreign ownership and enact legislation to bring it under control. The brief was one of a number presented by representatives of the federation and affiliated groups at the annual meeting with Members of Parliament. About 50 persons attended the gathering, including MPPs Murray Gaunt of Huron -Bruce and Jack Riddell of Huron - Middlesex, MP Bob McKinley, County Warden John Tinney and reeves from a number of town- awyo. Local residents simply cannot compete with foreign capital in the face of the devalued dollar and high interest rates, Mrs. Fortune declared, and a 1974 amendment to the Land Transfer Tax Act purporting to control foreign buying is a farce. Aimost 2,000 acres in o Huron County township i 0-2 MANAGEMENT SEMINAR a crash 7� �.1■V■ ■ in A WS ■ The Witham Advance -Times, Februag 14, 197*—Parma t'1 already under the Control of one FEDERAL foreign Ownershi hability to landowners for per at which Ontario farmers can't by forming a Canadian cor- foreign absentee landlords and ODmpete. A brief on energy and offers are pending on a number d In another section of the brief Although Agriculture MinisW other farms in the township, Mr. VanBeers and Mrs. Fortune greater emphasis be placed on Should the situation escalate the noted Ontario farmers are still MUTTART HOMES agricultural industry could awaiting changes to the Petty :f Box 17, Chatsworth, Ont. NOH 1t30 become foreign controlled W d Trespass Act. Requests for special tools or skills are needed. end up producing crops totally changes have been made for the unsuited to Canada's domestic past 20 or 30 years and the first needs but profitable for foreign recommendation in the final export, she warned. This has report of the Ontario Trials already happened in many Tblyd Council in 1977 was for im- World countries —ith large mediate legislation in this tracts of ag_ land regard, but nothing has been Federation of Agriculture wants devoted to pros' coffee done, they said. the county federations to take on "while the people b : e". They warned that until ac - such a study as a project.. The brief noted four provinces, ceptable trespass legislation is c` ; "The minister of agriculture Alberta, Saskatchewan, introduced farmers will be; less traumatic if it can be Manitoba and Prince Edward reluctant to grant access to their Island, have laws governing property. Recent recom- foreign ownership of farmland. mendations by the federation Mr. Riddell, agricultural critic include written permission for for the Liberal Party at Queens use of private land, arrest and Park, agreed the government is prosecution to be the res n p po ,. Fy not monitoring the situation snbility of the Crown and no regarding � p' FRIENDLY CHAT—MPP Murray -Gaunt chats with Walter Elliott, president Of the East gt,SMSS A 1973 report set the figure at sons using the property, whether Wawanosh Federation of Agriculture, and Jim McIntosh, a regional director of the On- OFVE10PIl41Vr8AA#( onP nwr rent of the land in the with or without permission. rovince—Mrs. Fortune charged Other briefs presented by the tario Federation of Agriculture, just prior to the Huron County Federations annual this had just been an estimate federation asked for better urban dinner meeting with members of parliament Saturday. and didn't differentiate between and industrial waste manage - arable and non -arable land --but ment, to prevent loss of valuable • no one knows what has happened agricultural land through dump- �o m mod ity since then, he said. ing of lethal chemicals, and addi- He noted foreign investors can tional funding of energy con- bookkeepin An introduction to bookkeeping techniques. 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Tel.: WWMW G-1 circumvent the land transfer tax servatign research for agricul- by forming a Canadian cor- ture. poration, without even having to A brief on energy and list the principal shareholders. agriculture presented by Mr. Although Agriculture MinisW McQuail urged that much Bill Newman has claimed it. greater emphasis be placed on would be impossible to do a study practices, systems and MUTTART HOMES right across the province, citing technologies which encourage Box 17, Chatsworth, Ont. NOH 1t30 the difficulty of finding out substitution of renewable for non- special tools or skills are needed. ownership, a government study renewable energy on the farm has been requested in Huron and and called for a government Lambton counties, Mr. Riddell funded energy innovations said. program on the farm. He also noted, the Ontario Agriculture cannot continue to Federation of Agriculture wants depend so heavily on petroleum the county federations to take on for fuel, pesticides and fertilizer, such a study as a project.. he said, and the transition to a "The minister of agriculture renewable energy base will be doesn't think it is a serious less traumatic if it can be problem. The federation could planned and implemented prove to him that it is and maybe gradually, before supplies run get him more concerned." out. Murray Gaunt added his A brief from the Huron Cat - comments that not all foreign tlemen's Association asked that ownership is bad, although he government not over -react to agreed he doesn't like to see current high beef prices, which it absentee landlords. The Danish, . said are caused by a decline in purchased a farm for hog,,' the number of cattle and in the research in West Wawanoskz` ' value of the dollar. Itpredicted that although the w t, it cal,tld develn�n r ,..Townshiii,:4* into a valuable agricultural number of cattle should increase project, he noted. by 1980 the high prices will Federation members em- continue until at least 1982 since phasized they don't want their cattlemen and calf producers position misconstrued as op- need time to make up for the posing the immigration of far- years of low prices. mers from other countries. A brief from the egg producers "We're not concerned about discussed quota problems and farmers coming in. We're wor- one from the Huron County ried about foreign speculation by Cream Producers suggested non-residents, which is a very higher subsidies for cream different thing," Tony McQuail production. pointed out. Other briefs were received OFA representative Frank from the Huron County Pork Wall noted that large blocks of Producers, the Huron County foreign money drive up the price Milk Committee, the Huron of land for legitimate farmers Plowmen's Association, the too, and might eventually drive Huron County Bean Committee up food production costs to a level and the Huron County 4-H Leaders' Association. Even though home prices have increased in 1979. Muttart Homes are holding 1978 prices on all home orders taken by April 1, 1979, and delivered Fne , by May 15, 1979. Act fast for substantial savings Choose from over 38 floor plans in 2 -storey, split- 4 , Fill in and mail this coupon today for your , free colour brochure showing Muttart level, split -entry or ranch style, with 2, 3 or Homes no obligation at all. bedrooms. There's no down payment and a Muttart mortgage can be repaid in 15 to 25 years. ...There's , MUTTART HOMES More savings? Muttarts make it easy' Once you Box 17, Chatsworth, Ont. NOH 1t30 have your lot you can erect your Muttart home from complete, easy to follow instructions. No name special tools or skills are needed. address Call collect to Mr. Brian Eva at (519) 794-3154, visit our show model a1 Highways 6 a 10 north of Chatsworth or mall In the coupon today for a FREE BROCHURE. �utts rt city phone ' I I have my own building lot ❑ YES ❑ NO = W, = = 0 Meeting set BELGRAVE — The February meeting on Citizenship, "A man's true wealth is the good he. does in this world", will be held Feb- ruary 20 at the WI Hall at 2 p.m. Mrs. Earl Anderson will be the convener. The roll call will be, One way I could make my community a better place. The address will be by Mrs. Walter Scott. Lunch committee is Mrs. Stanley Black, Mrs. Gordon Higgins and Mrs. Cora McGill. By Alice Gibb Art Bolton, president of the Huron Cattlemen's Association, asked Huron County's three Members of Parliament for their support in preventing consumer over -reaction to the high price of beef at the annual Members of Parliament meeting in Clinton on Saturday. Mr. Bolton and representatives from other Huron County com- modity groups presented their brief to MPPs Jack Riddell and Murray Gaunt and MP Robert McKinley at the dinner. Mr. Bolton said the beef price increase results from the decline in the number of beef cattle and the decline in value of the Cana- dian dollar. He said it's expected the number of cows will continue to decline until 1980 and rela- tively high prices for beef will prevail until 1982. Frank Wall, an OFA director from the Niagara region, asked Mr. Bolton if cattle producers couldn't maintain their produc- tion at. a steady rate. He said there was again talk by some consumers about boycotting beef due to the high prices. Mr. Bolton said cattlemen are trying to get better market in- formation to the producers in order to stabilize production and price cycles., He added that men- tioning quotas was" ihe quickest way to get' yourself out of a cattlemen's meeting that I know". Lloyd Stewart, secretary of the Huron County Pork Producers, called for an expansion of the processing and packing industry in the brief he presented to the three politicians. Mr. Riddell said he understood pork consumption will increase in the future due to higher beef prices and that good pork prices are predicted for the next two years. John Van Beers, of RR 1, Blyth, said Ontario hog producers need another slaughtering plant in the province to keep up with produc- tion. Bill Scott of Seaforth, Huron County director on the Ontario Egg Producers Marketing Board, said in his brief that both Ontario and Quebec require an increase in their egg quotas. He said under the federal marketing plan, until a more realistic agreement can be reached, egg quotas can't be stabilized and FEDERATION DINNER—Merle Gunby, president of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, talks with MP Bob McKinley prior to the federation's annual dinner meeting with MPs and MPPS. Federation members and representa- tives of producer groups presented briefs to the Members of Parliament. groups pre will continue to fluctuate. The director told the Members of Parliament the major problem facing producers now is the de- velopment of an ongoing transfer policy. He said there are cur- rently two trains of thoughts among producers about the issue. Some producers want the quota to be purchased by the marketing board, put into a pool and re -dis- tributed pro -rate to all the pro- ducers wanting it, at the same price. Mr. Scott said, "This is the fairest, easiest and least contro- versial plan to implement." However, other . �_2 favor an open, face to face buy -sell pro- gram with limitations, such as limiting purchases to five .per cent basic quota. Mr. Scott said the marketing board directors are now working on a program for quotas to be put forward at their annual meeting in March. Mr. Riddell, the Liberal party's agriculture critic in the Ontario legislature, said he is concerned how a young person gets into the egg business today. He asked, "Have we closed the door to the young farmer who wants to go into the business?" Jim McIntosh of RR 5, Sea - forth, said a young farmer could probably still justify buying a successful poultry , -ation with quota rather ag expen- sive land an into cash cropping. Mr. Gaunt said he had heard concern expressed about a cor- porate concentration in the egg business. Mr. Scott said at this point he didn't see the industry getting into corporate hands, since individual farmers and not industries are leasing avhilable egg quotas. The family farmer is right out there competing," Mr. Scott added. Bert Elliott, chairman of the Huron County Cream Producers, reported his organization is still fighting a drop in the consump- tion of cream in the market place and suggests a percentage of the price increase for producers be paid through higher subsidies. He also told the three politicians that his group is opposed to any changes being made in the Line Fence Act, and feels each land- owner should maintain his own half of the line fences where livestock are pasturing on neigh- bouring farms. Melvin Knox of the Huron County Milk Committee said his industry as a whole has few major problems. Mr. Knox told the audience On- tario has lost too great an amount, of its share of the quota, since it didn't produce enough of the pro- vincial allotment. "Now we'd just love to produce more milk in this province but we don't want to be stuck with a big surplus." He said producers are now living with a five per cent "sleeve" on excess quota, but this is "awful tight". Mr. Knox said milk producers suffered when the United King- dom joined the European Com- mon Market since Canada lost a major cheddar cheese market. He said there is now no such thing as an export market for dairy products since there is such Bel more Winning second prize at a curling bonspiel at. Clifford on Saturday was a rink comprised of Mac Inglis, Bob Inglis, Bruce Harkness and Everett Dustow. in hockey action last week, the Tykes were defeated 2-1 by Normanby. The Squirts tied Ayton 3-3 but were defeated 2-0 by Wallace. The PeeWees lost to Howick 5-3 and the Bantams :sent overs a glut on the world market from countries like Australia, New Zealand and the Common Market countries. Mr. Riddell said in the past, there has been a "damn poor job" of selling our dairy products and that he would like to see a better job done selling these pro- ducts to the public. Bev Brown, an OFA director from Bluevale, said a resolution is coming up at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture con- ference in Ottawa this ween to discourage the imitation of natural dairy products by pro- ducts like coffee. creamers and artificial whipped creams. She said, "In my opinion, all farmers should be supporting dairy farmers in this area." Robert Anderson, representing the Huron County Bean Board, said the major problem facing his organization was to find new markets for its product. Bean production in Ontario is currently in a surplus situation, he re- ported - Allan Campbell, representing the Huron Plowmen's Associa- tion and Glee McNeil, . ... t- ing the 4-H Club Leaders Asso- ciation also j, i. - ... A briefs. At the end of the session, Miss Brown thanked MP Robert Mc- Kinley for bringing the binder twine issue up in the House of Commons and congratulated Mr. Riddell on his work on the We- dator bill introduced in the On- tario legislature. 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