By Drew Spoelstra, Executive Member, Ontario Federation of Agriculture
In a show of strength for Ontario’s agri-food sector and rural communities, four provincial organizations came together at Queen’s Park to demonstrate how investments in rural Ontario economic development benefit all Ontarians.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), together with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus made a joint announcement on the value of spreading future economic development dollars across the province on February 21 at Queen’s Park.
Led by OFA, the partner announcement supports OFA’s provincial election campaign – Producing Prosperity in Ontario. The campaign calls for greater investment in Ontario’s agri-food sector and rural communities as an effective strategy to deliver economic growth and prosperity for all Ontarians.
Together, the four organizations represent more than 400 communities across Ontario, 37,000 farms and 60,000 businesses. The message sent to the government was clear – with proper investments, rural Ontario holds huge potential to deliver economic and social return to the province. There are tremendous benefits to investing in Ontario’s farms and our rural and mid-sized communities. The potential economic payoffs are huge, so are the opportunities to reduce the pressures on larger urban centres dealing with affordable housing and infrastructure issues.
The event demonstrates the strong support across the province to secure future investments like expanding broadband, improve roads and bridges, natural gas infrastructure and maintaining social infrastructure like rural schools and medical care. Together, the groups called for strong leadership and bold action to make a difference across Ontario by unlocking the potential of agri-food sector and rural communities.
Source : Ontario Federation of Agriculture