Yet another issue MPP Tim Hudak has championed with Niagara residents finally got attention from the McGuinty Government yesterday, as Ontario beekeepers received government funding to help replenish their depleted colonies.

Tim takes a tour of the Charlie Bee Honey facility in Beamsville in May.Hudak has been championing the Ontario beekeepers cause since April. Ontario beekeepers suffered unprecedented and unexplained honeybee colony collapses this year. About 30 per cent of Ontario’s hives were lost; some Niagara beekeepers reported losses of more than 90 per cent.

“I am pleased to hear that Ontario beekeepers will receive funding to help them recover from this year’s dramatic decline in honeybee colonies,” Hudak said. “Without immediate funding, a lot of beekeepers would not have been able to sustain their operations.”

In May, Hudak toured the Charlie Bee Honey facility in Beamsville to learn first hand the financial hardships beekeepers across Ontario are facing. He followed up the tour by repeatedly raising the issue in the Ontario Legislature and writing to Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) minister Leona Dombrowsky, asking for her to intervene with funding for beekeepers.

“I strongly urge that you consider (the OBA’s) request and assist Ontario beekeepers in getting back on their feet,” Hudak wrote in a May 8, 2007 letter to Minister Dombrowsky. “The repercussions could be far reaching into the fruit and vegetable industry if action is not taken on this matter as soon as possible.”

The Ontario government announced today it will spend $3 million to help re-build bee colonies - $2.4 million for direct compensation of hives losses and $600,000 to the Ontario Beekeepers Association (OBA) for scientific research. It was the second OMAFRA funding announcement in as many weeks.

“I just hope the Ontario beekeepers don’t get stung like the grape growers, who recently received a funding package with so many strings attached that makes it unattractive for a lot of growers,” Hudak said.

OMAFRA announced a program last week that will provide financial assistance for Niagara juice grape growers who want to remove grapevines from their property and use the land for other agricultural purposes. However, the grape growers quickly learned that they have to uproot their grape vines mid-season in order to be eligible for funding, which means many growers will have to uproot several acres of perfectly good juice grapes.