Provincial hold on spending hits new farmer program

Friday, October 24, 2008

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Leona Dombrowsky, says while there will be no changes to ministry programs already up and running, “any new programs or new spending that we had not committed in our budget we may have to delay.”

Programs such as the $14 million Pick Ontario Freshness marketing strategy and Ontario Farmers Market Initiative rolled out earlier this year will remain unchanged. “The premier has made it very clear that we believe that by making those kinds of partnership investments that is what is going to strengthen our partners, strengthen the sector.”

Dombrowsky also stressed that the Liberals “continue to be focused on the goals and commitments we made during our (2007 election) campaign.”

Dombrowsky made the comments Thursday, the day after Dwight Duncan, Ontario’s finance minister, released his fall economic statement.

Duncan predicts the province’s gross domestic product will grow 0.1 per cent, down from the 1.1 per cent forecast when the Liberals released their 2008 budget in March. He projects a deficit of $500 million for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

It’s a far cry from the rosy picture painted in March when the provincial government predicted a $6 billion surplus and a third consecutive balanced budget. Duncan blames “unprecedented economic volatility” for the about face. He says although there are no plans to cut spending, dealing with the financial crunch will mean delaying some spending initiatives and introducing internal restraints.

Dombrowsky says her party rejected staff cuts. “We know that when governments are ideologically driven to balance budgets or cut taxes, services suffer.” She says it’s difficult to predict how long the hold on new spending will be. “The Minister of Finance yesterday (Wednesday) was very careful to remind the people of Ontario that we are travelling in some uncharted waters here.”

Other cost-saving initiatives across the provincial government sector include:

• Delaying the addition of 50 family health teams earmarked to serve rural and underserviced areas - Extending the period for hiring 9,000 nurses
• Deferring some education construction projects
• Deferring the launch of the Ontario Social Venture Capital Fund
• Imposing internal restraints: reducing staff travel costs as well as fax, printing, photocopying and print advertising costs; freezing real estate holdings; leasehold improvements and, for the rest of 2008-2009 the purchase of government vehicles; and reducing the use of management and information technology consultants. BF