TORONTO – Steve Peters, Ontario’s new Liberal minister of agriculture, says it is time to improve agricultural relations with Ottawa, even as he insists he will stand up for the province’s interests.
He wants to reassert Ontario’s role as a key agricultural player among the provinces.
Peters wants to reverse years of increasingly testy relations between Liberal Ottawa and Progressive Conservative Ontario, symbolized by former minister Helen Johns’s role as a vocal critic of the federal agricultural policy framework.
The new minister has many of the same criticisms of the APF, since he is taking his lead from the same critical Ontario farm leaders, but says that should not get in the way of broader federal-provincial co-operation.
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“I think politics has gotten in the way of things in the past and I think we need in many ways to get politics out of it and look at what’s in the best interests of farmers,” Peters said in an interview at his Toronto office. “A partnership has existed for a long time on a traditional 60-40 cost sharing of programs, but as well, we need to ensure we’re working with Ottawa on other files.”
For the cash-strapped Ontario government, improving relations between Ottawa and the province on agricultural issues could mean more money, he said.
“Ottawa has some Kyoto funds so how do we leverage some of those funds for Ontario?”
It could also mean influencing Ottawa to create pesticide rules that work better for Ontario’s diverse agricultural sector.
But in part, the quest for better relations also is designed to make sure that Canada’s biggest and most complicated agricultural province is not ignored as the federal government designs national programs.
“I think I have to make sure that the federal government understands that Ontario is very much an agricultural engine in this country and we need to ensure that we are working together on issues,” said Peters. “We need to ensure that when dollars flow to provinces that Ontario does get its proportionate share of those funds.”
So far, a month into his job, Peters has impressed farm leaders.
“He has been very up front about wanting consultations with commodity groups before he makes decisions and that is very positive,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett.
“It is a good sign.”
Peters, a 40-year-old former stock clerk at a grocery store in his native St. Thomas, Ont., who became mayor, MPP and opposition agriculture critic in the last legislature, takes over the ministry at a time when Ontario has some increased leverage with the federal government.
Its signature on the APF would bring the federal five-year program into force and privately, Ottawa has been showing some flexibility in an attempt to entice Ontario on-board.
Peters said he realizes he also has some responsibility to represent the interests of other provinces that have signed reluctantly and would welcome changes in the rules.
He already has spoken to Saskatchewan minister Clay Serby, the other non-signatory, about common concerns.
“My goal is to build a relationship with the other provinces and that will evolve over time,” said Peters. “I have had discussions between Saskatchewan and Ontario about what some of those issues are but we have to bear in mind that there are other provinces that are signatories but they have issues they are advocating for. We need to have other provinces on side for any changes.”
