McGuinty government to introduce Local Food Act

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ROSEVILLE, ONT.—Under fire in rural Ontario for putting horse farms in
jeopardy, Premier Dalton McGuinty braved mud at a rain-soaked
International Plowing Match to promise legislation aimed at boosting
sales of Ontario-grown food.

Still on the drawing board, the bill would “get your products into
more places,” McGuinty told dozens of farmers crowded into a tent as
the skies opened on the site just west of Kitchener.

The NDP brought forward a local food bill two years ago aimed at
boosting purchases of Ontario meats and produce by government
ministries for their operations.

“Hopefully we’re actually setting a real example here and not just
playing up to the crowd,” New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath told
reporters.

If every Ontario family shifted $10 of their weekly grocery budget to
food grown in the province, it would boost home-grown agri-business
culture by $2.4 billion a year and create 10,000 new jobs, the
minority Liberal government claimed.

“We’d like to see it driven more and more by Ontario families,” said
McGuinty, noting he’ll consult with opposition parties and the
industry in developing a bill that will set targets for food
production, processing and sales.

One goal is to “sit down” with major grocery chains who often sell
U.S. and other foreign produce even though local equivalents are
available, such as peaches and nectarines now crowding farmers’
markets, McGuinty added.

His remarks came after organizers of the 99th annual plowing match — a
major exhibition for rural Ontario in a tent city sprawling across
prime farmland — cancelled the parade because muddy roadways made it
too dangerous.

The sloppy conditions made for some interesting vignettes, such as the
Green Party tractor hauling a busload of Liberal MPPs out of a gooey
rut and three cabinet ministers, Chris Bentley, Kathleen Wynne and Deb
Matthews, pushing Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott’s new
Chevy Cruze out of the ooze.

“That’s how minority government can work,” a grateful Elliott (Whitby–
Oshawa) quipped later.

Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said he was happy to hear of McGuinty’s
local food bill after the government hit rural Ontario hard by
scrapping a program that shared $345 million annually in proceeds from
slot machines with horse racing tracks and breeders.

“I worry the current government has forgotten about rural Ontario,”
Hudak added, saying his party has been pushing local food efforts for
years.

“If the premier’s finally come around, great.”

McGuinty acknowledged scrapping the revenue-sharing program to fight
the $14.8-billion deficit has been “difficult” for the horse-racing
industry and pointed to a panel of former cabinet ministers from all
three parties who are working on a transition plan.

“We’re committed to listening and we’re committed to getting this
right...we all want a strong and sustainable horse-racing industry,”
said the premier, whose government lost several rural seats in last
October’s election, in part due to voter anger about wind turbines.

McGuinty has paid a political price for not listening to rural
concerns, particularly on the horse racing issue, said Horwath.

“This is something the government did without prior consultation.”

McGuinty again signalled the next target in his war on the deficit
with public sector wage freezes, now that teachers have been dealt
with, will be bureaucrats in the civil service.

“We’ll be moving forward with an initiative in the not-too-distant
future that will address broader public sector compensation issues,”
he told reporters.

“It’s something that we need to do.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1258576--dalton-mcguinty-promises-bill-to-promote-local-food