May 23rd, 2014
To All Party Candidates:
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, and the National Farmers Union (NFU-O) on May 27th at the Brooke Alvinston Inwood Community Centre.
As a board, the Lambton Federation of Agriculture (LFA) has compiled the following nine issues which we feel are key agriculture issues for Lambton County, and Ontario:
- In 2014, many small, rural municipalities saw their OMPF funding cut and OPP billings increased. The result was that their Councils had to reduce services and spending on roads, infrastructure or in many instances increase their property tax rates more than 20%. We understand that there are more cuts to OMPF scheduled to come in 2015, 2016. What will your Party do to ensure that small rural municipalities will receive sufficient funding to ensure that they can continue to provide essential services such as the maintenance of roads and bridges without requiring them to increase property taxes to the point residents can no longer afford to pay them?
- As the largest economic driver in Ontario, would your government be prepared to have an Agricultural Minister full-time?
- The LFA believes reducing electricity costs has to be an election priority. Farmers and rural businesses cannot be competitive and contribute to growth in a province where energy prices are among the highest in North America. What does your party plan to do to help reduce energy costs, and make Ontario’s energy options more competitive?
- We continue to request a rural natural gas infrastructure and hope that the Infrastructure promises made in the budget find their way to all party platforms. Rural infrastructure is a critical input to ensure the efficient movement of farm equipment and products. How will your party help move this issue forward?
- As farmers, we are concerned about the use of prime agricultural land for non-farming purposes. What can you do to protect this very valuable resource?
- Two issues in rural communities are health and education. School closures have not been a big issue lately but will likely return.Health and hospital closures will become a target for budget cuts as it is the biggest part of budget. Both issues will have big ramifications for our members. How can your party protect our rural community hospitals and remaining schools?
- Rural families, farms and businesses are struggling with the lack of high speed internet in some areas. This is a real issue that is preventing growth and expansion of small rural business and the ability to work from home. How can your party ensure reliable, affordable high speed internet is available to all rural residents?
- Government has made some of the simplest tasks difficult and time consuming, deterring many people from investing in Ontario and costing existing businesses great expense. How would your party streamline government policy & procedure, and what does cutting red tape mean to you?
- The LFA feels that agri-skills training and food literacy programs need to be elements of the next provincial budget. How will you help promote this, as a party, to our government?
We appreciate your time, and we are looking forward to your written responses.
Thank you,
~Dave Ferguson~
Political Awareness Chair, Lambton Federation of Agriculture
NFU-O and Lambton Federation of Agriculture
All Candidates Meeting
Tuesday May 27, 2014
7:00pm Meeting
Brooke Alvinston Inwood Arena
- 6:30 p.m. Doors Open
- 6:30-7:00 Written questions received
- 7:00 pm Welcome and introductions
- 7:10 5 minute introductory speech from each Candidate (draw straws for order)
- 7:35 Reading initial questions sent out by both organizations, and Candidate Responses (3 minutes)
- 8:00 Pre submitted questions from the floor(each candidate has 3 minutes of response time)
- 9:00 Wrap up and
Housekeeping
- There will be timers set for your response, a yellow card means 15 seconds left and a red card is time up.
- We have a projector for questions, which will be positioned so all candidates can see the screen.
Questions will not be accepted from the floor. - Coffee and water will be available.
- Moderator will be Dave Ferguson, of the Lambton Federation of Agriculture.
May 2014 Provincial Candidate Briefing Letter & Agenda