Ag reps give Liberal budget a thumbs up

by SUSAN MANN

There is more focus on agriculture and food in Ontario now than there has been in many years and the mention of the industry’s contribution to the province’s economy in Thursday’s budget was good, says one observer.

David Sparling, chair of agri-food innovation and regulation at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University in London, says “the province is definitely recognizing the importance of the entire sector. And that’s a good thing for the industry.”

In the past, “agriculture and food has really been noticeably missing” from the budget, he says.

Sparling made the comments in response to Finance Minister Charles Sousa noting in his government’s provincial budget delivered at Queen’s Park in Toronto that the agriculture and food sector contributes $34 billion to Ontario’s GDP and is responsible for 700,000 jobs.

The Ontario budget calls for $127.6 billion in spending, while the deficit is projected to be $11.7 billion in 2013/14. The government says it plans to eliminate the deficit by 2017/18.

Conservatives critical

Most agricultural industry representatives found positive things in the budget but Progressive Conservative agriculture critic Ernie Hardeman panned it.

Hardeman says some of their major concerns are the Liberals failed to include any budgetary measures to reduce regulatory red tape for farmers and the agri-food industry or cut back increased costs for services, such as hydro. Regulatory red tape is farmers and the industry’s number one concern, he adds. “I was hoping that, at the very least, with the agriculture minister being the premier and having talked to these people she would have come up with that conclusion.”

There was also no mention about how the government planned to get hydro spending under control, he says. “It just seems to me it’s an NDP (New Democratic Party) budget to keep the Liberals in power.”

Hardeman says he was referring to the list of items NDP leader Andrea Horwath says she wanted in the budget, such as the 15 per cent cut in car insurance rates and a fund to help combat youth unemployment. “They all seem to have been put in.”

Hardeman reiterated his party’s statement that the Conservatives will vote against the budget following the one week to 10 days of debate on it. “I can see absolutely nothing in this budget that would make me want to vote for it.”

Sparling predicts the government will survive with this budget even though Horwath was pretty non-committal on whether her party will support the Liberals.

Speaking in favour of the budget were Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Mark Wales, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario president Lorne Small and Grain Farmers of Ontario chair Henry Van Ankum.

Budget ‘reasonably positive’

Wales says other than a $25 million reduction in the Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding program, which may affect rural municipalities, “it should be a reasonably positive budget as far as agriculture” is concerned.

For the agricultural industry, the budget contains continued funding for the Ontario business risk management program, and $30 million over three years for innovative local food projects. For rural Ontario, there is $20 million earmarked for small and rural hospitals, and $100 million for rural infrastructure projects, such as roads and bridges, which was announced a few weeks ago. Other positive parts of the budget include an increase in the employer health tax exemption to $450,000 from $400,000 and the mention of an accelerated capital cost allowance for manufacturing and processing.

The employer health tax exemption increase “will help some large farm employers, probably in the greenhouse and mushroom sectors mostly,” Wales says.

The accelerated capital cost allowance could benefit farmers involved in on-farm processing or doing value-added businesses on their farms. “The key on that one is that’s a job creator,” he says, noting if a small business decides to replace a piece of equipment and it gets an accelerated capital cost allowance “that means somebody has to make it  (the piece of equipment) and that means jobs,” Wales explains.

A review of property tax assessment policies announced in the budget may lead to the industry finally getting a definition of agriculture, Wales says.

Small says what Christian Farmers likes about the budget is the Ontario risk management program is being maintained and there’s continued support from the government for the “supply management system.”

They’re also pleased the government is maintaining its commitment to eliminate the deficit. “Our organization has always been concerned about the size of the provincial deficit,” he says.

There is continuous focus in the budget on improving productivity and innovation, which “is welcome,” he says. But the government still has some work to do to reduce barriers to productivity growth “and those are in the regulatory burden that farmers are experiencing.”

Ag representation needed on minimum wage talks

There was also a reference to a proposed advisory panel that’s to review Ontario’s minimum wage, currently at $10.25 per hour. Small says agriculture is a major employer and should be part of the panel but the budget only mentions including representatives from hospitality and the service sectors.

“I would hope that when they get around to discussing it agriculture will be around the table,” he says.

Small also urged the provincial government to move ahead with the urban public transit upgrades it’s talking about. That would allow cities to have denser populations “instead of sprawling out through the countryside,” he says, noting he’s concerned about congestion on rural roads if nothing is done to improve public transit in urban areas.

Van Ankum says Grain Farmers would have preferred the government included the renewable diesel fuel mandate in the provincial budget. But it’s a good step forward that government officials will consult to develop the mandate.

In its May 2 press release, Grain Farmers says a two per cent mandate in the province will create a demand for 160 million litres of renewable diesel fuel, which means a potential soybean usage of 680,000 tonnes.

Other parts of the budget Van Ankum says they liked is the recommitment to the provincial risk management program, the development of the Ontario Corn-Fed Beef Risk Management Fund and the $100 million earmarked for infrastructure improvements in rural Ontario.

“Our members travel those roads too and we have to move machinery on those roads,” he says.

NDP agriculture critic John Vanthof couldn’t be reached for comment. BF