The Ontario government continues to get questioned about a cap on risk management programs.
PC Agriculture critic Toby Barrett questioned the lack of risk management support when the budget was released on Friday.
On Monday, the concern came from NDP John Vanthof, MPP for Temiskaming-Cochrane.
"It was farmers and the government that designed the Risk Management Program," says Vanthof. "They designed it to be bankable and predictable. May I also remind you that it was your government that capped it, making sure that it was no longer bankable and predictable? The Risk Management Program is one of the best programs this province has ever had, but it doesn’t work when you go to the bank and you can’t guarantee that your risk is covered."
Premier Kathleen Wynne says the government will continue to work with farmers whether it’s with the corn-fed-beef farmers or the grain and oil seed farmers, where there are slightly different risk management programs.
"We continue to make investments in rural Ontario," says Wynne. "And it’s why we increased the budget for agriculture, food and rural affairs by $138-million last year. As I said, we continue to work with the farm sector to make sure that we design those risk management programs which we put in place in consultation with the sector, in direct response to the need for farmers to have that predictability. We will continue to work with them."
