Tory ag critic says Wynne should tour flood-damaged farms

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne is on the hot seat for her decision to not tour flood-damaged farms across Ontario.

“Where are you?” Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Ernie Hardeman asks her in a July 12 letter where he talked about flood-damaged farms near the Ottawa area, the Bradford Marsh and Chatham-Kent. “I find it disturbing that there is no evidence you have been out meeting with farmers, walking the fields and seeing the damage first hand.”

Hardeman was touring six or seven farms in Chatham-Kent Monday and had, in the letter, invited Wynne to join him. He also encouraged her to visit farmers in eastern Ontario and in the marsh in the next few days.

 He says in the letter he has already visited farmers with rain-destroyed crops near Ottawa and the marsh.

About the crops in Chatham-Kent, Hardeman says “there’s some real damage done. There are acres and acres of tomatoes that have already been completely written off” and can’t be harvested. For peas, some fields were partly harvested but had just become too wet so harvest couldn’t continue.

Most of the corn was tall enough when the floods hit that it will survive and still produce a crop, he says. But some corn plants were too small and were actually drowned out.

The problems in Chatham-Kent were caused by more rain than would normally be expected. But there also “seems to be a big problem with the municipal drainage in the area that needs to be looked at,” he says. “The drainage ditches are not functioning as effectively as they used to. They haven’t been cleaned out over the years.”

In response to Hardeman’s letter, Gabrielle Gallant, Wynne’s agriculture ministry spokesperson, says by email this year has been unusually wet while last year was unusually dry. “That’s why we have a range of programs, like risk management, production insurance and AgriStability, which provide support to farmers through challenges like these.”

Officials with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and Agricorp are working with farmers wherever they have concerns. “I know that Agricorp is working closely with producers affected by flooding and that claims are being expedited so that we can get producers the support they likely need as quickly as possible,” she explains.

For Bradford Marsh growers the government has also requested the federal government launch an assessment to determine if the joint federal/provincial AgriRecovery framework can be activated. But “we have not yet received a response,” she says.

The province did listen to officials from the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury who asked for and were granted an emergency declaration under the Drainage Act so dyke repairs could happen immediately.

The Horlings Dyke in the area broke twice in less than a month this spring flooding 130 acres of carrot and onion land. Town officials need the emergency declaration so they can begin repairs right away. Otherwise it would take two to three years to get the necessary permissions and permits from various agencies to do repairs.

“We will work with farmers and producers right across Ontario to support them through challenging times,” Gallant says.

Asked if Wynne planned to tour flood-damaged farms, Gallant says the most important thing is “ensuring that farmers are being supported and ministry officials are working with producers and Agricorp officials to ensure this support is being provided.”

Hardeman says it’s important for Wynne to get out and see the damage first hand “and find out what the real problem was, whether it could be prevented and whether we could do more to prevent it from happening again. Just paying the bill doesn’t solve the problem.” BF