$28 million budget cut ignores the value of agriculture: Barrett

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 8, 2016

QUEEN’S PARK – Toby Barrett, Opposition Critic for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Haldimand-Norfolk MPP, spoke of the value of agriculture while supporting Agriculture Literacy Week.

“Agri-Food Canada indicated that the sector generates $106 billion a year, 6.7% of Canada’s gross domestic product, and employs 2.2 million people right across our country,” Barrett said in the Legislature. “That’s one in eight jobs. It’s very important for the economy alone, and certainly our Ontario economy.”
Agricultural Literacy Week ran from Feb. 28 to March 5. Started in 2012, this initiative promotes “the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of agriculture in everyday life.”
“I think that if we knew more about agriculture, there would probably be a bit more of an outcry about the recent cut to the budget,” Barrett said. “We lost $28 million. The Local Food Fund, I understand, has wrapped up, although we were recently told by the minister that it has gone over to the greenbelt people. I don’t know where that leaves us in Windsor or the Slate River Valley, or up in Thunder Bay, Timiskaming, and northeastern Ontario. So much of our agri-business stretches from the Michigan border right across to the Quebec border. It’s certainly not limited to the greenbelt.”

-30-
For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or toby.barrett@pc.ola.org

 

Official Hansard
Ontario Legislative Assembly
Thursday, March 3, 2016

Mr. Toby Barrett: It’s a pleasure to say a few words about Canadian Agricultural Literacy Week, running February 28 to March 5, as we just heard.
It’s a concept that’s so important. So many of our residents in Ontario are two, three or more generations removed from the farm. Many of us may or may not—tofu, for example, comes from soybeans. It’s a two-way street, and I can attest that many soybean farmers down my way don’t eat tofu; they don’t eat the product that they produce. So it’s truly a two-way street. There has to be this communication back and forth.
In various whipped toppings, much of the main ingredient can be vegetable oil. I just assumed dairy, myself. It’s white and kind of fluffy and what have you. Vegetable oil is also used in soap, skin products and perfume. I grew up on a corn farm, and it’s just astounding, the products that come from field corn: the starch used in aspirin, for example. So it’s much broader than just food, much deeper than that, the products that are used for fibre and pharmaceuticals, and the value-added side that is also so important right across Ontario and right across Canada.
Agri-Food Canada indicated that the sector generates $106 billion a year, 6.7% of Canada’s gross domestic product, and employs 2.2 million people right across our country. That’s one in eight jobs. It’s very important for the economy alone, and certainly our Ontario economy.
I think that if we knew more about agriculture, there would probably be a bit more of an outcry about the recent cut to the budget. We lost $28 million. The Local Food Fund, I understand, has wrapped up, although we were recently told by the minister that it has gone over to the greenbelt people. I don’t know where that leaves us in Windsor or the Slate River Valley, or up in Thunder Bay, Timiskaming, and northeastern Ontario. So much of our agri-business stretches from the Michigan border right across to the Quebec border. It’s certainly not limited to the greenbelt.
I had lunch today and noticed in the cafeteria that the bright sign that is lit up, down at the sandwich bar, was advertising, asking all of us to take a 100-meal journey. I think this is in March. During the month of March, on average, we’ll eat about 100 meals. It’s asking us to think about vegetables, drink more water —some of us should have smaller portions, if that’s what I heard said over there—and fruit instead of candy, things like that.
I had breakfast this morning. I joined the dietitians downstairs and met a couple of what I refer to as “Mac girls.” I graduated from OAC, the Ontario Agricultural College, and there were reasons for us guys to go over to Macdonald Hall. Anyway, the dietitians: Man, they filled me in years ago on what is in food and what should be in food.
This is a very important phone number. It’s almost like Telehealth. I met a young lady there. She mans the phone. It’s EatRight Ontario. You can pick up the phone any time, or maybe during business hours—I’m not sure—and ask any questions about what it is you’re eating or what’s in that box. Here’s the number: 1-877-510-510-2. Just dial the number and see if it works. Anyway, it’s just a phone call away.
I guess my last comment: We talk about the importance of ag literacy in the schools, elementary and high school. I took a full-blown agriculture course in high school—grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. I studied agriculture and ag economics at Guelph. I had the honour and the pleasure to teach agriculture at the high school level—grades 9, 10, 11 and 12, in the four-year and five-year streams. We’ve lost that in so many of our schools.