Liberals target agriculture in Ontario

The Liberal Party is putting some emphasis on policies for rural Canada. Earlier this week, leader Michael Ignatieff made a commitment to what he calls “Canada’s first National Food Policy.” While it’s heartening to see some attention being paid to agriculture, it’s obvious that the Liberals are going after seats in rural Ontario. They have a legitimate chance of winning some of those seats. The odds are stacked against them making many gains in the rural seats of Western Canada. Ignatieff’s National Food Policy announcement was made on a farm in King Township, Ontario. The policy includes a lot of emphasis on getting more home-grown food onto Canadian tables. This caters to the local food trend that’s important to a lot of Ontario producers. It isn’t such a big issue in the West where we live and die by the export market. The Liberals are also promising a program called AgriFlex to offer regionally flexible programs that help meet the cost of production. That’s a direct pitch to Ontario farm groups who have been pushing for just such an approach. I’m Kevin Hursh.