Speech

Remarks by
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario
PREMIER'S OPENING REMARKS TO THE 2006 AGRI-FOOD SUMMIT

February 8, 2006 -- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

My thanks to all of you for coming out today.

I know your time is valuable and I really appreciate your participation.

I want to thank all of you for the food you produce and the products you sell, here in Ontario and around the world.

In a world full of worthy competition, you are truly second to none.

Around the world and here at home, you've seen to it that the Ontario brand stands for freshness and quality.

Thank you for feeding us and our families year after year, for adapting to our changing tastes and fickle demands, thank you for working the land and working together.

More than anything else, this summit is about allowing kids to dream, and families to succeed.

That's my primary job as Premier — to see that everyone in Ontario gets a fair shot at success.

We've been investing billions in education, health care and the economy to make sure that no one gets left behind.

The greatness and the promise of Ontario is that you can make it here if you're willing to dream big, work hard and seize your opportunities.

Just as we've done with auto, and forestry, and manufacturing, we're going to prepare our people in agri-food to succeed, to help them lay down roots and build up their communities.

So, I want to welcome all of you to this second Premier's agri-food summit.

I really don't think there's anything like it in our province, either in terms of its size, the complexity of the topic, the enormity of the challenge or how critical it is that we all succeed.

Leona tells me that she has more than 200 stakeholders in her ministry — producers, processors, retailers, and representatives from associations and industry.

This size and diversity is an asset, not an obstacle.

We're building on some solid momentum from our first meeting 14 months ago.

I said at that first meeting that the nature of the agri-food challenge cuts across many ministries, regions and responsibilities.

So, I am delighted to have the Cabinet here in such large numbers today.

In addition to Leona, Ministers Laurel Broten, David Caplan, Monte Kwinter, Gerard Kennedy, Jim Watson, Michael Bryant, Mike Colle and Harinder Takhar will all be here at some point today.

And from the caucus:

Maria Van Bommel, Carol Mitchell, Jean-Marc Lalonde, Jim Brownell, John Wilkinson are here ... and Caroline Di Cocco, Kathleen Wynne, Phil McNeely and Bas Balkisoon are expected to join us during the day.

Momentum point number two:

Our summit talks have already resulted in the consolidation of three agricultural colleges and 14 research stations under the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario.

That's going to make our future research efforts more focused and easier to leverage.

President Kennedy said once that the farmer is the only person who sells everything wholesale, buys everything retail and pays the freight both ways.

There's an essential truth there and that's the precarious nature of life in the agri-food sector.

We're here to talk about the future, but I'm painfully aware that can be a difficult thing to do when you feel the wolf is at your door — right now.

We all know that farm income is under great pressure.

We're facing global competition, restrictions on market access and massive price-distorting subsidies.

Labour, utilities and the Canadian dollar are all up. Prices are going down.

Consumer tastes are changing and the need to invest and innovate is huge.

That's why our number one priority, now and long into the future, is to strengthen you economically from the ground up.

In December, Leona obtained the unanimous support of the House to become the first agriculture minister in Ontario history to attend World Trade Organization negotiations.

At those sessions in Hong Kong, Leona argued Ontario's case for reduced subsidies in the United States and the European Union, increased market access for our exporters and the need to maintain Ontario's supply management system.

We're also committed to working with the federal Conservatives to develop business risk management programs that actually work.

In fact, let me read you what our new Prime Minister said during the campaign about Canada's agri-food sector. And I am quoting here:

"Our party, with its deep understanding of agriculture issues and rural Canada in all provinces and regions of Canada, has designed a multi-faceted agricultural policy to ensure that all Canadian farmers are better off under a Conservative government."

I look forward to that. I think we all do. I say that sincerely and not with any partisan overtones.

I will be conveying to Prime Minister Harper Ontario's willingness to enter into a partnership to support our agri-food producers.

My message to him will be very clear. Ontario's producers need stable, flexible, multi-year support, and they need it quickly. The federal government must come to the table.

In spite of our financial challenges, I think our record over 27 months speaks for itself.

We signed the first APF, bringing $1.7 billion to Ontario's agri-food sector.

We are kick-starting our homegrown ethanol industry with a half billion dollar investment.

And we supported you through the BSE crisis.

I can assure you, together, we're going to get this done as well. We're going to develop a new approach that better meets everyone's needs.

Just as, together, we're mapping out a common vision for the future for our agri-food sector.

Today, we celebrate the fact that we have a fully-approved vision statement.

It's a vision of the future based on no less than 11 consultation sessions and 600 separate contributors.

That's a tremendous achievement.

I want to thank the Summit Advisory Committee for the key role it played in getting us here.

I know Greg Hannam is going to take us through the vision in a few minutes, but with his indulgence, I'd like to read what we've all agreed on.

"Ontario's agri-food sector will be innovative, sustainable and provide opportunity for profit by all participants.

We will be globally competitive and the supplier of choice in Ontario by responding to consumer needs and contributing to provincial prosperity, the environment and the health of citizens."

That's a powerful vision.

It paints a wonderful picture of successful people doing valuable work, raising Ontarians' standard of living and enriching our quality of life.

As your Premier, I heartily endorse this vision.

And I pledge to work with all of you to make it a reality, starting with this summit today.

Now, if vision statements were castles, we'd all be kings.

Their real value lies in the thinking and planning they force us to do.

And that's why today is so important.

We're actually talking about how to take these high-minded ideals and bring them to life.

And, the key to our success, it seems to me, will be our willingness to innovate, to look ahead at what needs to be done rather than back at what always has been done.

And that's why I'm pleased that we're going to look at three areas today where a little innovation can go a long way.

The first area is broadening support and appreciation for our agri-food sector.

People around the world seem to know Ontario has a world-class agri-food sector.

But people around the corner do not.

We've got to change that.

We've got to find new ways to extol the benefits of nutritious food produced right here in Ontario and the important role it plays in fighting cancer, high blood pressure and a host of other afflictions.

It's not enough to produce quality. We've got to proclaim it as well.

Innovative marketing is a priority.

One of Leona's priorities is a strong, new emphasis on Branding Ontario.

We launched a new ad campaign last fall.

Leona often says her father taught her that it's better to buy health at the grocery store than the drug store. And we can do that today.

Look at the stunning rise of the organic food industry or the niche marketing of products and entire food lines that appeal to people's desire for healthy choices.

Later this morning we'll hear from Gord Surgeoner about how we can mine this growing interest in health and wellness more deeply at the retail level.

This is also a great example of how the future of agri-food cuts across other areas of public policy.

We've got a problem with childhood obesity in this province.

You think my Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson isn't interested in better nutrition, so overweight kids don't turn into diabetic adults?

You bet he is.

We're trying to raise student achievement in this province.

You think my Education Minister Gerard Kennedy isn't interested in better nutrition, so kids come to school ready to learn each morning?

Of course he is.

The second area we want to focus on today is creating value chains that encompass the entire field-to-fork pipeline.

For many years, our system was based on separate roles for producers, processors and retailers.

But, as we'll hear today, some of the biggest success stories come when we create a field-to-fork value chain under one roof.

Now, I know that many of you have moved up the chain by diversifying, or maybe you've added value to raw materials, moved into agri-tourism ventures or targeted smaller and niche markets.

What we really need to hear today are more good ideas on how producers can move up the value chain and gain the precious flexibility that allows them to respond quickly to changing markets and consumer tastes.

The third and final area is innovating the way we do research itself.

When we turn corn into ethanol, slaughterhouse waste into high-efficiency diesel fuel and manure into methane and electricity, we innovate and create jobs.

Leona's ministry invests more than $40 million annually to support research in areas ranging from food nutrition and health, to bioproducts and alternative renewable fuels, to the environment, food safety and sustainable production.

Research is how we get a front-row seat on the future.

It's how we get ahead of trends and leave our competitors behind.

It's where we take a green idea and turn it into gold.

So we need to do more research and we need to do it differently.

That's why we're supporting a $3-million research chair at the University of Guelph to propel agriculture into the 21st century.

And it's why my own Ministry's Ontario Research Fund has agriculture listed as a key priority and I know with Gord Surgeoner on the board there now, we're going to reap results from that new focus.

I've talked a lot about the future today because that's what we're here to do and you can be sure that's what our competitors are doing as well.

And I've also given you our commitment to move the yardsticks in the months ahead with the federal government.

We've had a great first 14 months and we're truly on our way.

With improved marketing, stronger value chains and first-class research we can reach our vision of an innovative, sustainable and profitable agri-food sector producing healthy, nutritious fare for Ontarians, allowing our people to succeed and our communities to be strong.

My friends, this vision, this success for our people, is ours to deliver, together.

Thank you.