Ontario local food bill introduced

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

by SUSAN MANN

A $10 shift from Ontarians’ existing weekly grocery purchases to local provincial food products is all it would take to generate an extra $2.4 billion in economic activity and create 10,000 new jobs.

That’s the challenge Premier Dalton McGuinty issued to Ontarians today at the Premier’s Summit on Agri-Food Innovation in Toronto – to shift $10 from their weekly grocery budget to local products from imported. At the same time, Ontario Agriculture Minister Ted McMeekin introduced a local food bill in the Ontario Legislature today to boost Ontario farm product sales.

McMeekin says the proposed legislation is an important initiative. It’s “designed to acknowledge the blessing we have in this country with an agri-food sector that produces the best tasting and arguable the safest food in the world.”

The proposed bill would also create opportunities for “us to have discussions about how we can enhance the willingness of Ontarians to be engaged in buying more local food.”  It would promote food grown and made in Ontario, and develop goals around production, processing, distribution, sales and marketing of Ontario food. BF