Ontario government slow to implement Local Food Act says PC ag critic

Thursday, April 24, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Ernie Hardeman has lambasted the provincial government for failing to proclaim portions of the Local Food Act, including the section that gives farmers a tax credit for donating food.

“I’m extremely disappointed that it appears the government was focused more on public relations than actually making a difference to local food in Ontario,” Hardeman says in an April 25 press release.

The Ontario legislature passed the Act on Nov. 5, 2013 and it was given Royal Assent. But legislation must be proclaimed before it goes into effect, he says. In this case, the government chose to not proclaim certain sections of the Act. In addition to the tax credit for food donations, an idea that was suggested by the PCs, Hardeman says the government also failed to proclaim sections that require the agriculture minister to set targets and goals within one year for encouraging increased use of local food by public sector organizations and increasing access to local food.

These sections would hold the government accountable and “yet they specifically chose not to put them into effect,” he says.

Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne says by email supplied by her agriculture ministry spokesperson, Mark Cripps, her officials are working on finalizing the regulations needed as part of the Act for the food donation tax credit to “come into effect.”

Public consultations for the proposed regulations ended April 22. Once the regulation is filed, those farmers who are eligible will be able to claim the credit for qualifying donations made on or after Jan. 1 this year. She advised farmers to save their receipts for any food donations made this year. “This will help farmers to ensure that they have the required records to claim this credit when it comes into effect.”

Wynne also notes the designation of Local Food Week, beginning the first Monday in June, has already been proclaimed. This year, the official week designed to celebrate “the good things grown and processed close to home” starts on June 2 and “we are looking forward to the first official Local Food Week this year,” she says.

The requirement for the government to provide a local food report has also already been proclaimed with this year’s report scheduled for release during Local Food Week.

“The Local Food Act requires ongoing collaboration among government stakeholders and the broader public sector to develop common goals that we can all work towards,” she says. The results of the collaborations “will support the next portions of the Act to be proclaimed,” including:

• The process to engage stakeholders in discussing food literacy goals.
• The specific goals or targets for food literacy.

Wynne notes stakeholders told them “food literacy and education are critical to getting people to choose more local food. We want to ensure the process for setting and achieving the targets is practical and meaningful.” BF