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BFO Congratulates Premier Ford and Members of Provincial Parliament
February 28, 2025
BFO STATEMENT
The Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO), representing 19,000 beef farmers across the province, would like to congratulate Premier Ford and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on their re-election, and to all elected and re-elected members of the 44th Parliament of Ontario.
BFO would also like to thank and congratulate Rob Flack, Lisa Thompson, and Ernie Hardeman on their re-elections in the ridings of Elgin-Middlesex-London, Huron-Bruce and Oxford. The trio served Ontario’s agriculture community as ministers of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness under the previous government.
“We’re eager to begin work with new and returning Members of Provincial Parliament to ensure Ontario’s beef farmers and the broader sector at-large have access to the supports and resources needed to sustain and grow our beef footprint at home and abroad, but also to defend Ontario’s critical trading relationship with our neighbours to the south,” shares Craig McLaughlin, BFO President.
Specifically, BFO looks forward to begin work with the new government on implementing the increase in investment in Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) by $100 million to ensure beef farmers are better protected against market volatility and production risks.
BFO will be asking the 44th Parliament of Ontario to prioritize the following actions to help support Ontario’s multi-billion-dollar beef sector:
- Ensure farmers have access to sufficient risk protection to guard against increased market volatility, specifically trade threats, input cost volatility, and supply chain disruptions.
- Defend Ontario’s trading relationship with the United States and vigorously oppose any U.S. tariffs on Ontario agri-food products, or reciprocal tariffs that would negatively impact the beef sector, specifically cattle, beef and beef products, and other critical inputs.
- Conduct a formal review of the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act and its underlying regulations and operational processes. Seek to create distinct and tailored systems of enforcement and regulatory frameworks for livestock, companion animals, and zoos and aquariums, similar to what is done in other jurisdictions.
- Create more robust incentive structures to increase food animal veterinary capacity across Ontario, including modernization and increased funding support for the Veterinary Assistance Program.
- Provide funding to support an expansion of community pasture cooperatives in Ontario through infrastructure assistance, land improvement grants, and preferential financing and/or direct funding to support land acquisition.
- Introduce property tax relief measures through the development of a new property tax assessment class for food processors, particularly abattoirs, or through other targeted measures that will help reduce the tax burden on processors of food.
- Provide a government-backed guarantee under the Ontario Beef Breeder Loan Program to improve competitive financing options for farmers, particularly young farmers, and to help grow participation and access to preferential financing across the province to support cow herd growth and sector entry.
- Make significant new investments in meat processing capacity focused on increasing access to infrastructure grants, access to labour and skills training, market development support, and other measures that will help measurably increase processing capacity in Ontario.
The beef industry is an important economic driver of Ontario’s agri-food sector. Combining the revenue from primary production, processing and retail, the beef industry contributes $2.69 billion to Ontario’s GDP on an annual basis.
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