‘Cherry-picking’ is killing Ontario fruit industry
Christina Blizzard’s column in today’s Sun exposes the flaws with Dalton McGuinty’s approach to navigating Ontario through the current rocky, economic seas - Killing Niagara fruit business .
Against all prevailing wisdom, McGuinty has adopted a policy of cherry-picking his pet projects instead of implementing the corporate tax cuts and incentives that are proving so successful in many other provinces. And as we all know, Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been urging/begging/cajoling the Liberal Ontario government to change its approach for months now.
Well, now Dalton McGuinty is in the position of having to justify why he abandoned fruit farmers and cannery workers , at a time when we are being urged to buy locally - and especially in the current crisis of world food shortages:
…The CanGro canning plant in St. Davids is the last cannery east of the Rockies. The company has announced the closure of the plant, throwing 120 people out of work.
Worse, though, it affects the future of farmland in the Niagara Peninsula. Peach and pear farmers now have no place left to process their fruit, so 1,200 acres of peaches and 800 acres of pears are going to waste.
It is so bad that farmers are ripping out fruit trees. Some are replanting grapes for wineries, and some fruit of course can be sold fresh. But at a time of world-wide food shortages and when there is a move to consume locally grown produce, the loss of this last cannery is alarming…
And here is the problem with cherry-picking :
… "The government is not in the business of canning , but we are in the business of looking to see how something could work," Pupatello said.
Well, heck, the government doesn’t build cars, but they’ve put $100 million into Ford, $76.8 million into Daimler Chrysler, $235 million into GM and $85 million into Toyota. They don’t build airplanes, but they put $2.85 million into Devtek Aerospace in Kitchener and $10 million into Diamond Aircraft of London. They don’t make soap, but they gave Procter and Gamble in Brockville $3 million .
They don’t make breakfast cereal but they gave $9.7 million to Kellogg’s. They don’t make steel but they gave $6 million to Dofasco. They don’t make breath mints, but they gave the Tic Tac factory in Brantford $5.5 million — and this leaves a bad taste in your mouth. ..
It sure does leave a bad taste in your mouth - especially after you consume that tin of peaches imported from China.
A very bitter taste.
* * * *
Update : McGuinty ties tax cuts to new deal from Ottawa - Star .
Brantford Expositor - Niagara fruit industry deserves equal protection .
Sunday Update : Sandy has a great post here - Niagara’s tender fruit industry WILL persevere!
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
CanGro also closed the canning factory in Exeter, Ontario this Spring. Your canned vegetables will be coming from somewhere else also.
It is rumored that this plant may open again in a year or two, without the union. We’ll wait and see.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:57 am
Ah, so the union might have something to do with it. I was wondering about that…
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:09 am
McGuinty “cherry-picking” his pet projects? What? You mean like education? We all know how his attention to THAT pet is doing don’t we? Scores flat-lined or down,
spending at an all time high FOR those mediocre results,
school closing, and not enough money being allocated for the building of replacement schools, a bloated bureaucracy for fewer students and it would seem that the only common thread for Dalton is that we’re all paying more for his pet project and getting less.
Could Dalton’s attention to his “pets” in fact be the kiss of death?
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
This makes me very, very sad. That comment of “The government is not in the business of canning” is the most ridiculous excuse for not doing something that I’ve ever heard. Clearly Pupatello had no idea what to say.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I wonder if the unions haven’t a lot to do with all of the companies that are having a hard time of it. Frank Stronach yesterday said that the auto workers should take a cut in salary to keep their jobs. He’s right.
We always said, how can someone making $35.(or more)an hour sell cars to someone making $15. an hour.
Have the auto workers never thought about it.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Steph, it really bothers me too. I guess we’ll have to go back to canning and freezing local fruit at home. I sure don’t want to buy any canned fruit from China.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
Ruth, high union wages are certainly part of the problem. The fact is that Ontario companies are not competitive in many areas. Labour costs are too high, government red tape and taxes are onerous, power costs are too high, the looney is still too high, and the U.S. economic problems are seeping across the border.
Governments can’t fix all these problems, but some can be addressed by looking at lower taxes. Labour also needs to take some responsibility in reducing costs in the squeeze of a global economy.
Finally, unions need to wake up to the fact that private companies exist for the bottom line - not as a charitable organization.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:50 am
Now here’s a stupid question - where is our opposition to all of this???
Where’s John Tory? Do we not have a rapid response option to every single idiotic thing McGuinty and/or his ministers say.
How about a search of the archives to when McFluffy was in opposition and cursed Harris for everything. Lots of stuff there I’m betting.
Why aren’t we fighting back?
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 am
Hey what the heck ?
It was May Day yesterday!
Tory was probably out looking for a parade…..
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Why are they giving money to any of these businesses?
If Proctor and Gamble can’t make money selling soap, then make something that sells.
Same with Kelloggs, make a cereal that sells or cut wages to make a profit just like anyone else would have to do with their budgets.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
The over $30 some odd million McGuinty’s gov’t awarded minus the application process to the cultural centres this past year, would have been seed money to restart the food processing plants. Retaining the expertise of the lost personnel and salaries. Heh, if it includes UNIONS that’s fine in my books. People need living wages to operate the inflated mortgages, gas and food hikes, carbon taxes in the pipeline as in B.C.
Mismanagement all the way next three and a half years. And John Tory’s asleep at the switch.
Ford, by the way posted they’re in profit territory the other day, yet the corporate welfare continues unabated. Good show.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Left a message under Jack’s guitarist for this entry, Joanne. Word press obstructs entries to news items.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Jack’s guitarist?
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
For many decades now, we have been replacing prime agricultural land to build super highways and sprawling subdivisions. That is fact, from the times of Leslie Frost, Robarts and Davis. It used to be we harvested most of our fruit from Niagara. I recall vividly smelling the fruit in the orchards, tasting them. Much juicier, definitely superior to the chemically altered stuff trucked in from, say California.
Our local farmers have been put out of business this way. And now, with higher fuel costs it seems cheaper to buy locally. Not only do we save, but we also help our local farmers.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Against all prevailing wisdom
you mean jim flaherty? there’s more than a few of us who had enough prevailing wisdom in the harris years.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Tell you what Jeff, compare job numbers under Harris against those under McGuinty. It’s no coincidence that Ontario has lost massive jobs in the manufacturing sector in the last five years. Oddly, that’s the same amount of time McGuinty has been in office. Hey, at least the Ontario Cricket Club is happy, right Jeff?
As an autoworker Ruth, I agree with you 100%. Proposals have been put forth that would keep current workers wages where they are, and any future hirees at a lower rate. This would encourage new investment and hiring here in Ontario. Dunderhead Buzz Hargrove is against it, even though most union members would agree to it. Then again, Hargrove seems to think it’s better to have a plant closed and long-time workers laid off, even if those same workers agree to concessions.
Ontario
McGuinty’s to destroy.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I might add that Stronach is the last one who should be talking about workers making less though. This is the same guy who pays $0 taxes in Canada even though he pays himself a salary of $40-$50 million a year. I would guess dear daughter Belinda is in the same boat.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I would like Jeff to tell us, with proof what happened so bad in the Harris years. I’m tired of everyone talking about all the bad Harris years with no figures to back it up, except that terrible 5.6 million.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I always found it offensive that government handouts always went to companies with very highly paid workers, union and salaried. Essentially smaller companies with lower paid workers were subsidizing failed big union, mismanaged companies through the taxes these struggling yet successful small businessess had to pay. How much more employment and success would there be if they simply lowered the tax rate equally for all? I have worked for 3 of the top 100 companies in Canada (still am), so it’s not sour grapes.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
a local shoulder manufacturer near me is talking about asking its employees to take Fridays off without pay…..I wonder if McGuinty intended to force us back to Rae days?
May 4th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
[...] also Joanne’s post on the topic, which she posted a few days ago at Blue Like You. And, enjoy the short YouTube clip [...]
May 15th, 2008 at 7:53 am
[...] that is what cherry-picking does. It woos the bigger fish at the expense of the smaller ones [...]