Ontario's agriculture minister cites protocol for leaving Farm Products vegetable board proposal alone - for now

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s agriculture minister has declined to wade into a debate on an Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission proposal removing the price negotiating powers of the province’s processing vegetable board.

“Given that a decision of the OFPMC (Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission) to reconsider a proposal may be reviewed by me as minister, it would be inappropriate to comment on any specific regulation being proposed,” Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal said in a July 20 letter.

The letter was addressed to Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Toby Barrett, MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk. It was in response to a request Barrett made to the minister in a July 15 letter asking for the 45-day comment period on the proposal to be extended beyond the initial Aug. 12 deadline and past harvest time and for public hearings to be held to get feedback.

On June 28, the commission posted a proposal on the Ontario Regulatory Registry to rescind the negotiating authority of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers marketing board and add provisions to turn the board into an industry advisory committee.

In his letter, Leal explained to Barrett that if the commission, after gathering and assessing feedback decides to go ahead with its proposal, “a party affected by the decision can file for re-consideration to the OFPMC.” Once the commission makes a re-consideration decision, the minister can review it.

Leal urged interested parties, stakeholders and the general public to submit their feedback through the Ontario Regulatory Registry posting during the comment period.

“I have also been informed that the OFPMC is reaching out to interested stakeholders about their proposal to gather feedback,” Leal said in the letter.

The agriculture minister also assured Barrett that the Ontario government hasn’t “changed its policy of supporting regulated marketing and continues to maintain Ontario’s 21 marketing boards while respecting the delegated authority given to the OFPMC under the legislation (the Farm Products Marketing Act).”

Leal’s letter was provided to Better Farming by email from his press secretary, Christina Crowley-Arklie.

In the email, she said consultations could continue outside of the regulatory registry process and “outside of the original timeline at the discretion of the original party who put forward the proposal.”

She added that questions about extending the consultation period could again be sent to the commission.

Commission chair Geri Kamenz did not respond to requests for comment. BF