CORNWALL - Ontario Premier Mike Harris stopped at a family farm near Cornwall March 7 to speak with several local business owners about concerns in rural areas.
The meeting was one of several roundtable discussions along a two-day tour of Eastern Ontario.
The tour was meant to allow Harris to listen to people’s ideas on how to spread the province’s economic success in such a way that all Ontario communities benefit.
The meeting was hosted by Eleanor and Newell Brown, who welcomed their guest with an offering of baked goods and beverages, including ‘Mike muffins.’"No thanks," he replied. "I’m on a high-protein diet."
The first business owner to speak with the premier was Linda Lalonde, president and owner of a vocational college in Cornwall. Her concern is how the college could compete for federal and provincial grants with publically funded colleges.
Harris replied that it can’t because the province does not fund privately owned colleges, but was glad to hear the job market was good for graduates.
The next person to take the spotlight was Stuart Clark, a beef farmer.
He told Harris he has to take his livestock to a slaughter house in St. Albert, and that the slaughter house could use some financial help from the province to upgrade.
North Stomront Township’s Arnie HakVoort, a swine and cash crop farmer, said the swine industry is competing with the U.S. and that Canada is going to suffer for it.
Harris said he is concerned that Ontario farmers are not being treated equally, adding the Ontario government may have to step in to "level the playing field."
Julie Andre-Kinnear, owner of a sugar bush near Cornwall, and said she’s pleased with the new tax assessment system, but that anything else the provincial government could do to lower business taxes would be welcome.
Harris expressed concern over the toll the 1998 ice storm took on the bush, to which she replied the impact was felt but that the business was recovering nicely.
Following the meeting, Harris made an announcement from the Brown’s barn that an MPP task force has been created to seek solutions to a variety of rural issues, including ways to enhance job creation.