TORONTO - Wind turbines, unnecessary red tape and disaster relief will be top of mind for Ontario farmers in the upcoming provincial election.
There are hundreds of issues affecting farmers, said the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, but outdated and needless regulations that complicate their work is a big one.
"Any time anybody thinks a regulation is a good idea, ultimately it bounces back to something agriculture has to do," said OFA president Bette Jean Crews. "And it costs money with no way to bounce that input cost forward."
The group would also like to see more consultations with farmers to make sure there aren't unintended consequences for them from any one law.
Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Ernie Hardeman said increasing input costs and high hydro rates have made it difficult for farmers to profit from their business.
But there's also a lack of communication and understanding on the part of the government about what rural Ontario needs to thrive, Hardeman said.
"Every time they turn around there's a ministry somewhere coming out with new acts that have no consideration on the impact they will have on the people that own and operate the property they're talking about restricting," he said.
That also holds true for wind turbines, which have popped up in farming regions with little or no community input.
The turbines and other green energy projects were a key part of the Liberal plan to dig Ontario out of the economic downturn and create jobs, but there has been strong opposition to the turbines, with the province receiving hundreds of complaints over the past two years claiming that some companies weren't following rules around their placement.
"Without giving it any second thought, the government decided to take all the planning out of the process," Hardeman said. "A farmer can't build a retirement home on his farm without going through a long zoning process but yet somebody else can come in and build hundreds of these wind turbines and the farmer and rural community have absolutely no ability to do anything about it."
Environment Minister John Wilkinson said the government had reduced needless regulation by almost 28 per cent, and worked to modernize some rules so they are no longer outdated.
"The first milestone which was . . . to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden by 25 per cent, we've exceeded by working closely with them," Wilkinson said.
The governing Liberals, he added, have also delivered on new risk management rules for Ontario grain and oilseed producers, as well as cattle, veal, sheep and hog farmers, which should be ready by the end of June.
The OFA and the Ontario Cattlemen's Association said Friday they were pleased that program would be going forward, and hoped it would continue even if there is a change in government this fall.
NDP critic Howard Hampton said no plan has yet been implemented when it comes to risk management, and there has been no action taken to improve the lot of struggling farmers.
"All this really is is a pre-election promise," said Hampton. "It will be concrete when farmers finally get a cheque in the mail."
