Insults traded over safety nets

Ontario has serious funding problems with the federal government on safety net programs, says the Ontario Federation of Agriculture President, Jack Wilkinson. The provincial agricultural minister's people have been negative towards the feds, he said. "Negotiations are not in a good state," he told Farmers Forum.

At a meeting, in which former provincial minister Ernie Hardeman was present, insults were traded between the two levels of government, Wilkinson said.

The OFA, for its part, has lobbied hard but can't get more aggressive, he said. When it comes to backing one candidate over another, "We are apolitical." He called backing one politician over another or one party over another high stake gambling. "If you lose you'd find yourself on the fringe of society."

Progress has been made, he said. This has been the first time provincial leadership candidates have submitted to questioning by a farm group. While candidates all pledged support for agriculture, 

the support took the form of sympathy rather than concrete suggestions. Only the Minister of Education, Elizabeth Witmer, failed to show.

Wilkinson said the candidates who did show up at an all-candidates meeting sponsored by the OFA made a commitment to working out the regulations on Bill 81 with the federation so farmers could afford the change. "We ( farmers) need to be able to live with the regulations," he said.

He pointed out that the farm community is far ahead of the manufacturing industry on pollution controls.

But these are difficult times. Frivolous food safety ads sponsored by the meat inspectors union have been splashed across the media.

"Thank God consumers have a high degree of confidence in our food," he said.