News
Mark Wales re-elected as Ontario Federation of Agriculture president

The 2012 OFA Convention is currently underway at the Doubletree by Hilton in Toronto and Mark Wales has been confirmed as re-elected to the position of President of the OFA for the next year.

See Mark Wales' Message to Delegates below, I will be letting my name stand to be your President for 2013. It has been an honor to represent you and be the spokesperson for our organization for the past year.

The past year has seen many challenges and many new words in our vocabulary: Prorogation, Accreditation, Slots at Racetracks, The Drummond Report, Drought and Hay East to name a few. All of these have affected and will continue to impact our members for some time to come.

Despite the worst drought in many decades farmers are being surprised by some of the yields. Hay
East has been an example of the farm community in Eastern Canada and Western Canada coming together to help those in need. The recent announcement by both levels of government will help get sizeable quantities of hay moving.

The Drummond Report was used by government as an excuse to cut funding to RMP and decimate the Horse Racing Industry without offering any solutions. The inability of the OMAFRA Tribunal on Accreditation to accredit any GFO is sheer incompetence. It has highlighted how something so simple can impact our main source of funding. In the absence of a decision we will be preparing our
next steps to ensure that your organization is able to work on behalf of our members.

After a leadership race Ontario is headed for a spring election. No party has given thought to its Agriculture and Rural policy. Our challenge in the months ahead will be to get our members needs in all parties platforms to prepare for whomever is the next government.

We will need to use every method of communication and take every opportunity to tell "our" side of the story to remind government and society that a prosperous Ontario requires profitable farmers first, and a well supported Rural Ontario to lead the way.

As we go forward together in our 77th year, I would be proud to continue being your President, to lead our organization, to be "your" spokesperson, to ensure that government at all levels are
accountable for their actions. I believe in OFA and what we can achieve together.

Mark Wales
President Ontario Federation of Agriculture
http://www.ofa.on.ca/

November 19, 2012  By OFA