by JIM ALGIE
Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown’s byelection victory should amplify objections against the province’s new rules for neonicotinoid pesticides, Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) chair Mark Brock said Friday.
Elected earlier this year as party leader, Brown won handily a byelection, Thursday, among eight candidates seeking to replace veteran MPP Garfield Dunlop in the mainly rural riding of Simcoe North. Dunlop resigned this summer hoping to clear a seat for Brown who is a former House of Commons member for the federal riding of Barrie.
As leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives and the official opposition, Brown will add pressure on neonics issues, Brock predicted. That’s based partly on GFO research into candidates’ positions during the recent Simcoe North campaign.
“He’s a voice that will be in the Legislature when it comes back in September and I believe he is going to hopefully challenge government on these regulations,” Brock said in an interview.
“They were brought in in such a fast process and without really understanding how significant an impact they will have on our operations as producers,” Brock said of new rules in effect July 1.
The grain farmers’ group has objected strongly ever since the Liberal government of Premier Kathleen Wynne proposed new rules to drastically cut neonicotinoid use over concerns about their effect on pollinating insects. GFO has sought a stay of the regulations with an Ontario Superior Court application to be heard, Sept. 28.
The Guelph-based non-profit organization represents 28,000 grain and soybean farmers with about six million acres under cultivation. Its Simcoe North intervention included questions for candidates about neonicotinoid policy and publicity about the answers.
Brown is a Barrie lawyer and former Conservative MP for the federal riding of Barrie. Unofficial results of Thursday’s byelection appear on the Elections Ontario website and show 21,103 votes for Brown.
The number of votes represented almost 54 per cent of all ballots cast; Brown was well ahead of the pack. Liberal Fred Larsen received 9,260 votes; New Democratic Party candidate Elizabeth Van Houtte received 6,622. The so-far unofficial results show 39,297 of 96,138 electors voted, a turnout of 40.88 per cent.
Brown could not be reached for comment, Friday.
During the campaign, however, the Conservative leader replied to GFO questions with a Sept. 1 letter publicized subsequently by the farm group. A copy of Brown’s letter appears on the GFO website and includes strong criticism of the government’s neonics policy.
“The Wynne Liberals have taken a heavy handed approach to Ontario’s agricultural sector by implementing this regulation without any conclusive evidence that it will decrease bee mortality rates,” Brown’s letter says. “The Liberal Government has made this decision with limited consultation with industry, despite independent studies indicating that the cost to Ontario’s farmers could exceed $600 million annually,” the letter says.
“It is clear that Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have their own agenda, and they just aren't in it for rural Ontario anymore,” Brown’s letter says.
A statement issued by Brown following his byelection victory said he expects to use his new role as leader of the official opposition to “hold the government accountable for its actions and provide a strong alternative beyond that the Liberals and the NDP can offer.”
PC Agriculture Critic Toby Barrett, MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk for the past 20 years, said his party’s neonics policy relies on existing federal government regulatory process. Barrett was one of the MPPs who supported Brown’s leadership candidacy; he described the new leader’s approach to government policy as “very practical” in an interview during a pause in bean harvest, Friday.
“With respect to neonics our approach would continue what it has been for the past two years, and would continue under Patrick Brown, as a science-based approach,” Barrett said.
“I believe the province of Ontario has no business wading in to something that is federal jurisdiction,” Barrett said, referring to Health Canada’s lead role in pesticide regulation through the Pest Management Regulatory Agency.
GFO’s decision to participate in the Simcoe North byelection campaign reflects widespread concern among members, the group’s chairman said. So far, the organization’s outspoken attack on government policy has not crossed the line drawn by tax rules that limit political advocacy for non-profit organizations, Brock maintained.
“We look to our auditors to ensure we’re complying with the tax rules for non-profit organizations,” he said. “So far our auditors feel we are complying.”
Brock grows wheat, corn and soybeans on about 1,500 acres near Hensall and succeeded former chair Henry Van Ankum in February. Since then, he has received widespread support from members for the organization’s strong stand on the new regulations.
“From the conversations I’ve had this summer with different growers from all over the province it’s the number one issue and they’re frustrated,” Brock said. “From the phone calls we’re getting into the office and I’m getting as chair, it’s do whatever is necessary to push back against government,” Brock said.
“I think ultimately she’s just not in tune with the messages they’re getting out of rural Ontario,” he said, referring to Wynne. “Until they really start to listen to what rural Ontario is saying they’re not going to get much pick up on their policies or much support in rural Ontario,” Brock said. BF
Comments
Ever since the neonics thing started in late 2014, and purportedly even as far back as 2012, the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) have, to quote federal Ag Minister Gerry Ritz's assessment of the National Farmers Union during the Canadian Wheat Board's final days - "never missed an opportunity to prove they are completely out of touch with reality on the ground."
We have a majority government with well-more than half its term to run, a government with no seats in rural areas, a government with public opinion solidly on its side - get with it grain farmers - THERE IS NO NEONICS ISSUE - it's over.
Because they apparently refuse to realize that government can't stand obstructionist martyrs, Mr. Brock and his minions would be well-served to:
(A) Google "Adrian Measner", the former head of the Canadian Wheat Board who was fired, in late 2006, by then federal ag Minister, Chuck Strahl, only weeks after Measner refused Strahl's directive to endorse the Wheat Board's move away from single desk selling.
(B) Google "Ronald Reagan and the air-traffic controllers" to see how, in the early 1980s, Reagan fired, at once, every air-traffic controller in the US because the controllers were trying to grandstand their way into contracts Reagan didn't want.
Measner, as well as the air-traffic controllers seemed to believe then, like Brock seems to believe now, that "pushing back" against government serves a useful purpose for his employer and/or his career - it does neither.
In the final analysis, Brock still doesn't get the point that a good part of rural Ontario is saying "this looks good on grain farmers" because of the way grain farmers applauded when a previous government railroaded ethanol mandates into existence for the benefit of grain farmers, in spite of the obvious harm these mandates did to hog and cattle feeders.
As usual, my opinions may not be shared by any organization with which I am affiliated - I believe they are, but they are wisely keeping these opinions quiet in case GFO sues them along with the government.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Thanks for your opinion.
The gov't P1 P1 inventory precautionary principle valuation fiasco was by a majority gov't, yet it didn't prevent you and many industry reps from lobbying the majority gov'ts of the day to change it to P1 P2. Let's just hope that it doesn't take 7 years to let the balance of facts prevail in this precautionary principle case.
Unlike the pro-neonic forces, those of us who opposed, on accounting principles, the P2/P2 inventory accounting policy during the first six years of OWFRP/AIDA, didn't use "dirty" and demeaning (and/or horribly-expensive) arguments to advance our position.
For example, GFO, Crop Life Canada and several other organizations spent almost $350,000 on full-page newspaper ads claiming to "share the facts" about honey bee health, yet, of course did no such thing. The ad claimed that the number of honey bee colonies had increased by almost 60% since 2003, but, completely-damning for an ad which claimed to "share the facts", forgot to mention the critically-important "fact" that honey production on a per colony basis had declined by 40% during the same time period.
That the pro-neonitotinoid forces would, and did, go so-far out of their way to avoid and/or misconstrue "the balance of facts" when squandering $350,000 on newspaper ads, speaks volumes about the credibility of everything else they claim.
Get over it people, the neonics issue is over - GFO and the rest of the pro-neonicotinoid forces have, right from the start, acted in a completely-toxic manner and, as a result, no political party is ever going to show them any consideration at all. Therefore, the only voice grains farmers have at Queens Park, and will have at Queens Park for a long time, is through the OFA.
Finally, the "balance of facts" regarding the bad economics of mandated ethanol have been well-known for over 7 years, yet it is still around - people who hope for some sort of "Hail Mary" play in the next 7 years to rescue them from neonicotinoid restrictions are going to have to wait even longer than beef and hog feeders have waited for a "Hail Mary" play to rescue them from the perfidities of ethanol mandates
As usual, my opinions may not be shared by any organization with which I am affiliated - in this case, however, they should agree with me because I am effectively claiming they are a "rose among thorns".
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Post new comment