PC leader will add pressure to neonic issue says GFO chair

Thursday, September 3, 2015

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