Ontario farm leaders welcome new provincial ag minister

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

A Hamilton-area MPP is the new agriculture minister in Premier Dalton McGunity’s slimmed down Cabinet sworn in Thursday.

Ted McMeekin, the MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, takes over from former minister Carol Mitchell who was defeated in the Oct. 6 provincial election. He has been an MPP since 2000 and was the minister of consumer services in the Liberal government before the election.

Ontario’s farm leaders are pleased with McMeekin’s appointment. Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews described him as being well informed and open to meeting and continuing the work started by Mitchell. “I’ve been at meetings where Ted has approached me and asked about what the agricultural issues are or talked about them.”

One thing McMeekin will need to do is get ready for the next Federal-Provincial-Territorial agriculture minister’s meeting on business risk management and Growing Forward 2. A significant part of the work in determining what funds will be transferred to the provinces from the federal government is being done now. “I want to bring him up to speed on that one so he can really hit the ground running,” Crews says.

John Clement, general manager for Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, says they look forward to a constructive dialogue with the new minister in advancing the interests of Ontario farmers.

“At a time when very few Liberals were elected from rural areas, it will be extremely important that McMeekin has the confidence of Ontario farmers and be able to effectively communicate farm concerns and aspirations to his urban-based colleagues,” Clement says.

Joe Dama, National Farmers Union Ontario coordinator, says McMeekin’s appointment “sounds good.”

NFU officials were quite concerned that so few Liberals were elected from rural ridings. But now that McMeekin has been appointed that will help alleviate their concerns. During the election campaign, the new minister put out a lot of information “that he was very much in favour of farmers and agriculture,” Dama says. 

Two things NFU officials want to talk to McMeekin about are their concerns with the provincial Green Energy Act and the proposed Canada-European-Union trade agreement. 

Before entering provincial politics, McMeekin was the mayor of Flamborough, a Hamilton city councilor and a leader in several community organizations. He has been a strong advocate for children with special needs, seniors, the environment and community development, it says on his website.

McMeekin is part of the new 22-member cabinet in the Liberal minority government. That’s down from the previous cabinet of 28 members the Liberal government had before the election.

A veteran MPP from St. Catharines is the new environment minister. Jim Bradley, who has served as an MPP since 1977, held the environment post previously from 1985 to 1990 under former premier David Peterson. Most recently he was the minister of community safety and correctional services.

MPP Michael Gravelle of Thunder Bay-Superior North is the natural resources minister. BF