Barely a month into his term as Ontario agriculture minister, Steve Peters already is finding that the honeymoon with provincial farm leaders is fading.
He came into office in late October promising to be a farmer advocate in the new Liberal regime and farm leaders welcomed him.
Then, the government made several decisions that had farm leaders wondering about the relationship.
Energy minister Dwight Duncan announced the government would not honour its election promise to keep hydro rates capped. Instead, rates will start a gradual increase in the spring that farm groups say will add $42 million to the cost of farming in the province.
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“This is a huge blow to agriculture,” said Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association president Murray Porteous.
Along with Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett, Porteous said he believed the government would take agriculture’s concerns into account when changing the energy pricing.
After a meeting with Duncan, “we left thinking something could be worked out,” said Bonnett. “As it appears, that just wasn’t the case.”
Then, the government announced a change in policy on how new nutrient management rules will be administered.
The Liberals will reverse a decision by the former Progressive Conservative government and make the ministry of the environment the first department to respond to reports of on-farm environmental problems. With the support of farmers, the Conservatives had made agriculture officials the first line of enforcement.
“I think these decisions raise some very serious questions,” Bonnett said in a Nov. 28 interview. “It is a little bit frustrating for us to be seeing these kinds of decisions being made. I think farmers are feeling frustration, unease.”
Ontario Corn Producers’ Association president Mat Menich said his producers will try to convince the government to leave agriculture officials as the first enforcers, trying to help farmers fix the problems before environment bureaucrats come in to prosecute.
“We’re hoping that they don’t change things too dramatically,” he said in an interview.
However, Menich said it is too early to condemn the new minister.
“He’s enthusiastic, he’s grasping the situation and he’s allowing farmer input on issues so all that is positive,” said the corn producer.
Peters still faces two tests.
He is trying to win some concessions from Ottawa on the details of the new Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization Program and then he has said he will sign only if farm leaders tell him to.
And he has asked the cattle industry to recommend by the end of the year how Ontario should get involved with cull cow compensation.
Bonnett said one strong possibility is that the Ontario government should put money into preparing slaughter facilities that can handle older cull cows in the province.
“Right now, there simply is a lack of kill capacity,” said the OFA president. “But we certainly want the province to come up with some money.”
However, Peters has warned that his cash-strapped government has not allocated money for a cull cow program and it may be difficult to win a cabinet commitment for new spending.
