Fruit wineries get their day in Queen's Park

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

by SUSAN MANN

A private member’s bill allowing fruit wineries to sell their products at Ontario farmers’ markets is headed to a provincial Legislature committee for one hour of public hearings later this month.

The Legislature’s regulations and private bills committee will hold hearings on Dec. 9 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Queen’s Park in Toronto. Only six delegations are allowed and presentations are limited to 10 minutes each. From Noon to 1 pm, the committee will review the bill clause-by-clause. Members of the all-party committee study and vote on each section of the bill and propose amendments.

Both the public hearings and the clause-by-clause review are open to the public. The proposed bill could be sent back to the Legislature with or without amendments, it could be voted down by the committee “or it could just sit on a shelf,” says Tory MPP Bob Runciman, who proposed the bill.

Runciman, who represents Leeds-Grenville, says there’s opposition to the bill and that’s why it sat for almost a year in a committee that was loaded up with government-proposed legislation. “Maybe the hearings will shed some light on why some people are opposed to this,” he says.

Runciman’s bill received second reading in Ontario’s Legislature in December, 2008 and was referred to the standing committee on general government until Nov. 5 when it was reassigned to the regulations and private bills committee.

To make a verbal presentation, call the committee at (416) 325-3515 by noon on Dec. 4 or e-mail trevor_day@ontla.ola.org

Written comments are due by Dec. 9 at 9 a.m. They can be sent by e-mail to: trevor_day@ontla.ola.org or by fax to (416) 325-3505 or by mail to: Room 1405 Whitney Block, Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 1A2. BF