ONTARIO HANSARD

Mr. Jim Wilson (Simcoe-Grey): Mr. Speaker:  Over a month ago in this House, the Deputy Premier, George Smitherman said in response to my question regarding assistance for apple growers who were severely affected by the August 20th tornado in the Town of The Blue Mountains that he’d work with the Agriculture Minister and me to come up with a solution for our apple growers.

A lot of time has passed since then, and as it stands today – 2 months after the tornado – the farmers haven’t received anything.

It’s estimated that up to 4 million dollars in damage was done that may not be covered by existing programs.

To date, it’s been left up to me and the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association to asses the damage and put a value on it.  The government promised to do it weeks ago and to date; nobody has come to confirm the apple growers’ losses.  All Agricorp did was speak to the farmers and tell them what they could have or should have got if they were enrolled in its programs.  They didn’t document the growers’ financial losses as was promised by the government.

The government has said all the right things, but there’s no action behind their words.  Two Ministers have come up and toured the damage, posed for photos and gotten themselves on the evening news, but they’ve done absolutely nothing to actually help, despite assurances from them that they would.

There is a real need for assistance.   It takes up to 9 years for an apple tree to come back, and to be profitable, after it’s planted.  So I call upon the government to keep their promises to help, get down to work and get money flowing to the apple growers.

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