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Ontario Landowner president fights mischief charge

Friday, May 1, 2009

Photo: About 70 people attended a demonstration on Thursday outside of the Renfrew courthouse.

© AgMedia Inc.

by TREENA HEIN

The president and governor of the Ontario Landowners Association as well as a Renfrew area farming couple were in the Renfrew Ontario Court of Justice Thursday, fighting mischief charges laid against them in summer 2008 by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Jack MacLaren, Edward Kennedy and Cindy and Larry Reid are pleading not guilty to the charges. 

The charges stem from a June 23, 2008 Association protest action held at the nearby Township of Horton office. MacLaren says the protest resulted in the office being closed for three hours, during which three township employees were prevented from working.   

About 70 people attended a demonstration Thursday morning outside the Renfrew courthouse before the trial began. They sported Association hats, shirts, and signs sporting the slogan “This land is our land: Back Off Government.”

Larry Reid drove a tractor and wagon to the demonstration. Association members were present from chapters such as Oshawa, Dufferin, Carleton Place, Peterborough, Niagara and Muskoka. “I’m overwhelmed with the support here,” says Larry Reid.

The June 23, 2008 protest was a response to the Township of Horton’s decision to install two 10,000 gallon septage (sewage from septic systems) storage tanks in the ground on Township property 125 feet from the Reid home, claims the Association.

MacLaren was certain that the attention attracted by the charges would help prevent the Township from going further, to fill the tanks with septage. Speaking to the crowd, he said “If we win, we win. If we lose, we still win.”

If the Reids wanted to locate a storage tank for manure on their farm, says MacLaren, they would have to comply with the stringent requirements of the Nutrient Management Act. These include a ‘Minimum Distance of Separation Formula,’ which is used to calculate the minimum required distance between the nearest house and any proposed manure storage tank.

That distance, says MacLaren, is often over 1,000 feet.

“You’d think they would use the closest model [in locating these tanks],” said MacLaren, “which is the Nutrient Management Act, and be good neighbours. They are not good neighbours.”
 
The outcome of the trial could be decided today or tomorrow.

The Ontario Landowner's Association was formed in February, 2006. At that time, there were ten chapters. There are now 23.

Concerns of these groups range from threatened closure of prison farms, water use/ wetland designation and land use legislation, endangered species issues and the powers of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to raw milk sales, elk damage to crops and feed, cutting of subsidies for deadstock removal and building permits for farm structures. BF
 

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