For Immediate Release
October 20, 2004

LAURIE SCOTT STANDS UP FOR FARMERS

Today, Laurie Scott questioned the Minister of Agriculture about why farmers are still waiting for CAIS cheques that they applied for months ago. The CAIS program has not been able to get cheques into the hands of farmers, and she took the Minister to task for his ineffective administration of the program. The government is now estimating that 16,000 farmers from across the province have not accurately completed applications. Those farmers are going to receive a notice from the Ministry asking for more information.

She asked “Minister, what steps are you going to take to speed up the CAIS program, not just for the farmers who are currently in the backlog, but also for those responding to the letter asking for more information?”

When the Minister did not answer her question, Laurie Scott reminded him of the fact that “the barn doors are silently closing and farms are going out of business and the economics of our community are going downhill.”

After question period, the legislature debated a motion brought forward by the Progressive Conservative opposition. Laurie had another chance to bring agricultural concerns to the attention of the legislature. The motion being debated was

"That the Legislative Assembly call upon the government,
To recognize that the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food's budget has been reduced by over 20 percent; To reinstate full and future funding to the Municipal Outlet Drainage Program, which has been cut and given only temporary transition funding; To reinstate full and future funding to the genetic research programs of Ontario Dairy Herd Improvement, Ontario Swine Improvement and Beef Improvement Organization, so that Ontario food quality and safety will continue to excel; To provide BSE funding to Ontario's ruminant industry quickly as is being done in other provinces; and To call upon Premier McGuinty to fulfill his campaign promise to support the farmers of Ontario by doing these things immediately."

Despite support from both opposition parties, the motion failed when Dalton McGuinty’s government members voted against it.

“I am disappointed that the government still does not seem to understand the importance of Agriculture to the economic health of our whole province,” Laurie Scott said. “Farmers in Ontario provide safe food for our tables and are vital to the economic health of their local communities. It is not a difficult equation to understand.”

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