QUEEN’S PARK – Tim Hudak, MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, called on Premier Dalton McGuinty in a statement in the Ontario legislature today to stop turning his back on Greenbelt municipalities and tender fruit growers, whose livelihoods have been placed in further jeopardy with the imminent closure of the CanGro Foods canning facility in St. Davids.

The CanGro plant was to close on March 31, 2008 if a buyer could not be found, putting more than 100 plant employees out of work. Since a buyer has not come forward, the plant will only remain operational until the last canning projects are completed. About 150 tender fruit growers have been affected by the plant closure, which annually processed $4.3 million of pears and clingstone peaches grown on 1,600 acres of greenbelt farmland. The tender fruit industry is also still reeling from the closure of the Cadbury-Schweppes plant in St. Catharines in June 2007 and by the closure of a local processor’s sweet cherry operation this past year.

“As a result of these three lost businesses, farmers are now being forced to pull out or find a new market for as much as 3,700 acres of peaches, pears, sweet cherries and grapes,”
Hudak said from the Assembly floor.

Tender fruit farmers are facing extraordinary challenges against low commodity prices, a higher minimum wage, obstacles at the border and subsidized products from abroad. It has become increasingly difficult for them to compete on price under such circumstances, let alone under inflexible government regulations through the Greenbelt Act and other measures that have restricted their ability to improvise and add value to their properties.

Hudak called on the Premier to step in and ensure tender fruit growers can find a profitable market for their product or, failing that, provide growers with support so they can afford to pull out their crops and start over with a more profitable product. In February, Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison announced $22 million in federal support for beleaguered tender fruit growers. Hudak has since been lobbying the Province to come to the table with matching funds.

“The Premier has become an absentee landlord when it comes to the greenbelt,” Hudak said. “If the Premier wants to freeze the farmers’ land under the Greenbelt Act, then he must make every effort to help farmers find a profitable market for their product.”