Elections
Do you support maintaining or expanding the protection of farmland and rural natural land from urban boundary expansions?
Responses to the question: "Do you support maintaining or expanding the protection of farmland and rural natural land from urban boundary expansions?"
In This Page:
3 Candidate Responses (top)
| Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Barry Spruce | No | In General terms, the Freedom Party is all about Freedom of Property rights, landowners should not have restrictions imposed on their land and how it is used, zoning is in place to manage what the land is intended to be used for. Changes to Zoning and Environmental assessments certainly impact how land is used and developed. Farmland is very important to the Province, as we need to produce our food supply. Any future development would certainly need to be well vetted to make sure that existing Farmland is not eroded at the expense of risking our food supply and economic benefits that it produces for the province. |
| Raymond Dartsch | Yes | Yes, the Greenbelt is just a good start.
|
| Ted McMeekin | Yes | Yes! As a former Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, this is an issue that is near and dear to my heart.
Ontario's agri-food industry is a shining star of our economy, creating $34 billion in GDP and supporting more than 740,000 jobs from farm to fork. Our Premier understands the importance of agriculture and the need to preserve farmland. That's why she took on the role as Minister of Agriculture and Food (on my advice) because we wanted to raise the profile of the importance of this sector to our economy. We also introduced the Local Food Act which celebrates the good things that grow in Ontario and encourages consumers to think local when they shop at the grocery store or farmers market. People tell us the Greenbelt Legislation our government brought forward in 2005 in the single most important initiative - protecting in perpetuity 2 million acres of greenspace, wetlands, forest and farm land. We hope to expand this working with our municipal partners. The PCs have indicated they would like to open up the Greenbelt for residential and commercial development. This is horrifying. They want to privatize the Greenbelt. I am proud that our platform continues to protect farmland through our Farms Forever Program, to help landowners protect prime agricultural land close to major urban centres. This will help support the local sourcing of food, and strengthen our strong agri-food sector. We recognize young farmers need support and the Farms Forever Program and other policies, will ensure farming is a lifestyle for generations to come. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 2 | 66.7% |
| No | 1 | 33.3% |
| Maybe | 0 | 0.0% |
3 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alex Johnstone | ||
| Donna Skelly | ||
| Glenn Langton | ||
