The Western Wardens Caucus wants to increase access to natural gas for Ontario's farm communities.
It's the goal of a new partnership announced Tuesday by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, and the Western and Eastern Wardens.
Chatham-Kent Mayor and Western Wardens Caucus Chair Randy Hope says they're asking the government to commit to a long-term grant program to install new pipe.
"We're looking at about a thousand kilometers a year to be put into place," says Hope. "They have a government program that's also available today, and we're asking the government to start moving on that program as quickly as possible, so that we don't lose another construction season."
Hope says they're proposing to work with the province and gas companies to build the pipe across rural Ontario each year, for the next 20.
"We've put pressure on the government to see construction and some of these movements happening by the spring of 2017," he says.
He says provincial funding is necessary to not only reduce energy costs for farmers, but develop businesses. There are a number of green house opportunities in Chatham-Kent, Hope adds, that need expanded lines.
"It creates jobs, creates opportunities and creates growth," says Hope. "And there is a number of small communities that don't have pipelines or need to expand, in order to be reached too."
