OFA Commentary: February 26, 2016
By Don McCabe, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Finance Charles Sousa delivered an economic blueprint for Ontario on February 25, in his 2016 budget, titled Jobs for Today and Tomorrow. The budget promises to grow our economy, create jobs and provide Ontarians better access to services while balancing the budget by 2017-18. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) was encouraged by the budget’s focus on growing the economy and creating jobs. Growing the economy is what Ontario’s agri-food sector does every day, fueling the economy with jobs, food, processing and spin-off benefits to rural and local communities. The specifics of how the budgeted programs will be implemented will require a lot of work in the coming weeks and months, but OFA is pleased that some of our pre-budget recommendations are being addressed. Our budget recommendations focused on ensuring our sector can continue with the tremendous growth opportunities that contribute to a thriving economy. The provincial budget promises to make the biggest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario’s history — $160 billion over 12 years — supporting an average of more than 110,000 jobs each year. This investment must extend to rural communities and farm businesses. OFA has been pushing for investments in rural infrastructure, specifically government funding to expand natural gas infrastructure to lower business costs on farms and throughout rural Ontario and investments in our rural communities. We will continue to work for on-farm investment on climate change adaptation initiatives as part of important rural infrastructure spending. The province announced increases in infrastructure funding for small municipalities and the rural infrastructure Connecting Links program. OFA worked closely with rural municipalities for reinstatement and improvement of Connecting Links. When it comes to growing business on the farm, the budget committed to work with Ontario’s farm community to improve taxes on value-added farm activities. Despite the budget’s commitment to ‘reducing electricity costs for business’, no mention of a farm/industrial electricity rate was included. With one of the highest electricity rates, Ontario farmers remain at a competitive disadvantage, making it difficult to grow our own farm businesses. OFA has been advocating for the provincial government to take action on climate change. We have promoted a Cap and Trade system that would acknowledge the carbon offsets the agricultural industry offers and recognize the efforts farmers are already making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. OFA was pleased to see a commitment to support on-farm emissions reductions, along with a commitment that agriculture will offer offsets to covered sectors. Investments in a Cap and Trade system are outlined in the budget, including increases in gasoline and a rise in the cost of natural gas. Everyone will feel the impact of these fuel cost increases as part of the Cap and Trade system, but OFA understands the revenues will be invested in projects to address climate change and enable agriculture offsets. OFA is watching the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair’s budget which is projected to decrease by $25 million. We await further details of this reduction and will be addressing any cuts that affect programs for our members. The government was clear that its number one priority is to grow the economy and create jobs. The agri-food sector is a vital part of that growth. And we look forward to continued collaboration between government and industry to meet the Premier’s agri-food growth challenge that will see 120,000 new jobs added to our sector by 2020. -30- For more information, contact: Don McCabe President Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-331-6175 Neil Currie General Manager Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883
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By Don McCabe, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture
Two groups pushing for economic growth in Ontario right now are the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC). OFA shares a similar mandate with the OCC – we both work on behalf of businesses in the province. OFA focuses our advocacy on farm businesses. It is a strong lever to OFA’s forward advocacy actions to have OCC’s work helping to support growth for Ontario’s agri-food sector in various ways. On January 26, a report authored by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Mowat Centre, and Leger highlighting several issues OFA is pushing for to grow our industry, farm businesses and the greater Ontario economy was released. The report, Emerging Stronger 2016, is the OCC’s assessment of Ontario’s economic strengths and weaknesses since 2012. It’s encouraging to see the OCC support issues like curbing rising electricity costs, extending broadband across the province, the development of a Cap and Trade system and promoting Ontario’s agri-food sector at home and abroad. OFA supports the Emerging Stronger 2016 report recommendations for a stronger Ontario, identifying many areas that support Ontario farmers and OFA’s current advocacy work. The five-year analysis report outlines five priority areas for economic strength in Ontario. 1. Fostering a culture of innovation and smart risk-taking in order to become a productivity leader 2. Building a 21st century workforce 3. Restoring fiscal balance by improving the way government works 4. Taking advantage of new opportunities in the global economy 5. Identifying, championing, and strategically investing in our competitive advantages in the global economy Prime Minister Trudeau recently stated in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum that Canada is full of resources and resourceful people. Ontario farms and rural business communities exemplify and carry a long history illustrating resourceful people properly managing resources. To leverage our resourceful talents, and to grow our economy, OCC’s report outlines key priorities for much-needed economic development in Ontario. It demonstrates how organizations like OFA and OCC can realize our province’s potential in collaboration with others and collective action. The OFA asks the federal government and provincial government to combine their resources with Ontario’s number one industry, and announce these intentions in upcoming budgets. A copy of the full Emerging Stronger 2016 report is available at occ.ca. Congratulations to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Mowat Centre and Leger for their hard work to compile this report, and helping to promote Ontario’s farmers, who are the core strength of the current Ontario economy. -30- For more information, contact: Don McCabe President Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-331-6175 Neil Currie General Manager Ontario Federation of Agriculture 519-821-8883 |
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