Tories sitting on report - true cost of nutrient management regs

TORIES SITTING ON REPORT ON TRUE COST OF NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT
REGULATIONS:
LIBERAL CANDIDATE WARD SAYS TORIES 'HIDING' REPORT
July 12, 2003
The Lindsay Daily Post
3
Jim Humphrey
LINDSAY - Provincial candidates in the Haliburton-Victoria-Brock riding,

Ontario, believe, according to this story, the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture is intent on keeping secret a report explaining the real
cost to farmers to implement new nutrient management regulations.
Liberal candidate Jason Ward was quoted as saying, "Very simply, the
Tories defend their actions by saying farmers and municipalities are not
entitled to know what it costs to comply with the nutrient management
regulations. If I was a farmer, I would be very upset."
The story says that the Ontario Federation of Agriculture tried through
a freedom of information request to obtain a copy of the report last week.

Ward adds they were told the report, from the George Morris Centre at
the University of Guelph, is 229 pages long and printed on purple paper, so
it can't be photocopied. Derek Nelson, spokesperson for Agriculture Minister Helen Johns, was cited as saying he is unaware of any finished financial study on nutrient
management by the George Morris Centre or anyone else because the
regulations have been evolving for the last year, adding, "It would be
impossible to have figures until such time that the process is complete.
The last element in the process is a number of studies by the newly
appointed advisory committee including the best way to manage nutrients in shallow
soil."

Meantime, Ward contends that hiding the report makes it difficult for
local farmers and the City of Kawartha Lakes to respond to the new
regulations.