Jim Merriam in the Belleville Intelligencer on January 27, 2012 writes about the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s stance on wind power:
When it came to government relations, Ontario’s largest farm organization, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), often seemed to adopt the philosophy “go along to get along.”
Certainly, at times, the OFA found itself in conflict with the provincial government, but it was civil conflict.
One example involved the introduction of the Clean Water Act in 2006.
“Ontario farmers saw mixed blessings in the proclamation of Ontario’s Clean Water Act … they saw elements of the act that would protect agriculture from a repeat of anything like the Walkerton drinking water disaster, but were anxious about the government’s failure to fund the improvements required of agriculture. OFA encouraged farmers to become involved in the Source Protection Committees as a means of protecting agriculture’s interests.”
In other words, don’t be trapped on the outside looking in. Work within the system.Another example further illustrates the organization’s tactics.
“Early in 2007, OFA participated in the Premier’s Summit on Agri-Food and gave its full support to the vision of growth and innovation for the industry that emerged as the key focus.”
With this hail-fellow-well-met approach to politicians and government, the OFA has accomplished a lot of incremental improvements for agriculture, but they have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
So, shock waves must have rippled through that tiny corner of Queen’s Park that still cares about rural Ontario when the federation took a new stand on wind turbine developments. Here’s some of the language from the OFA statement: “The situation regarding Industrial Wind Turbines (IWT) has become untenable. The proliferation of wind turbines across rural Ontario has seriously polarized our rural communities.
“Residents not engaged in turbine developments have been pitted against neighbours, over concerns with health impacts and quality of life issues. IWT development currently preoccupies the rural agenda.”
