Letter of Thanks, AGCare

On behalf of AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC), thank you to everyone who put their name forward to represent agriculture on their local Source Protection Committees (SPCs).

The local SPC election process has been completed. Everyone involved in agriculture should be very proud of the quality of nominees who put their names forward. Some of the meetings required many rounds of voting to select their representative(s).

Thirty-six ag reps were selected for sixteen different Source Protection Areas/Regions (SPA/R) throughout the province, ranging from one to three ag reps per SPA/R.

Congratulations to those who have been democratically elected by their peers. You have taken on a great responsibility. You are sacrificing time away from your farm and your family to make sure that the Clean Water Act treats farmers fairly.

We are very disappointed that some conservation authorities appear to be ignoring our democratic process; however we trust that the vast majority will respect the process that we have followed to provide them with well-informed, democratically elected leaders within their local agricultural community.

Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC) staff is putting the final touches on a training program for the elected agricultural representatives, which will take place in mid-December. OFEC staff will continue to offer technical support and assistance to our ag reps throughout the duration of the source protection planning process. OFEC will also assist these 36 men and women to keep them in touch with one another so that they can offer mutual support.

Congratulations again to our ag reps and best of luck in your new role. Thank you again for your dedication to agriculture in Ontario.

Sincerely,


Jackie Fraser, AGCare