Open Letter to Federal Party Leaders

Dear Party Leaders:
According to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada State of the Sector, agriculture and the agri-food sector generated $108.2 billion in 2014, accounting for 6.6% of Canada’s GDP. Even with this presence and impact on the Canadian economy, agriculture has not played a part in the discussions/debates during this campaign, and the National Farmers Union-Ontario (NFU-O) would like to change that.
The NFU-O works towards the development of economic and social policies that will maintain small and medium sized family farms as the primary food-producers in Ontario and in Canada and believes that agriculture should be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable and should lead to enriched soils and biodiverse natural ecosystems.
While we are non-partisan, our membership is politically active and would like to see a governing party that cares about the family farm and the men and women farming it. We would like your party’s thoughts on the following issues, so that we can share them with our membership.
Where does your party stand on the following issues? What policies do you intend to put in place to address these issues?

• Climate change and global warming in respect to agriculture
• The prices of farmland and the effect of outside investment on farmland
• Supply management
• Free trade
• Universal pharmacare – Farmers do not have an employer to cover benefits.
• Canadian Wheat Board
• Independent, government-sponsored research and scientists
• Bill C-51

In addition to the above topics, we also have specific questions:

• What will the family farm look like at the end of your mandate?
• Do you support the establishment of a long-term, comprehensive National Food Strategy for Canada? If so, what would it look like to you? Please speak to specific policies that you would prioritize within such a strategy.
• Presently, Canada is the sixth, possibly the fifth most sued country in the world by investors for alleged violations of the investment regulation of free trade agreements/treaties. Does your party feel that these investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms serve Canada’s interests and if so, how?  And if it doesn’t, why not?

We appreciate your time and look forward to presenting your answers to our members.
Sincerely,
Karen Eatwell
President
National Farmers Union – Ontario