Ontario’s minimum wage is set to climb to $15 per hour by 2019 and that could have a significant impact on agriculture in the province. Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Keith Currie says labour intensive sectors such as horticulture and greenhouse operations will likely suffer the greatest impact from the Liberal government’s announcement this week… Read more »
Tag: Ontario Federation of Agriculture
Could Investing in Rural Canada Make for Affordable Cities?
We know that housing prices – regardless of whether you buy or rent — are out of sight, especially in Canada’s major cities, and in particular, Toronto, where housing prices have jumped more than 30 per cent in one year. As part of what’s called the Fair Housing Plan, announced Thursday, April 20, Ontario Premier… Read more »
Environment Minister Glen Murray Apologizes (!) to Ontario’s Farmers
Glen Murray is not the favourite son of Ontario’s farming industry. The Ontario Minister of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) has made few friends in the Ontario farm sector with his push to restrict use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, dismiss sound science, and impose the will of his urban-dominated government on the province’s farmers. That’s the… Read more »
Ambition, Arrogance and Ontario’s Appetite for Climate Change
How will the Ontario government’s $7 billion Climate Change Action Plan affect the province’s agriculture industry? Based on the details released this week in the Globe and Mail, the big jolt would likely come in the form of a phase-out of natural gas in the province. Farm leaders have lobbied hard for the gasification of… Read more »
The Challenges Ahead for the OFA — An Interview with Don McCabe
Late last month, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture elected members of its new board — including Don McCabe, who farms in Lambton county, as the new president. Shortly after the annual meeting, Real Agriculture’s editor, Lyndsey Smith, caught up with McCabe to talk about opportunities and challenges facing the Ontario farmers as we move into… Read more »
On the Ontario Election Trail: The Rural Vote, Affordable Energy & Food Literacy
The weather and the provincial election campaign are heating up in Ontario. With just over two weeks to go before the vote, party leaders are looking to rural Ontario — and the agriculture and food sector — for votes to win power in Ontario’s fractured and dysfunctional political landscape. Can Premier Kathleen Wynne relegate the… Read more »