PROTECTING THE BASICS
ORGANIC FIRST
To reduce the harmful effects of toxins from pesticides and herbicides in groundwater, on our food, and in the air, the Green Party proposes strong legislation to limit their use by:
- Significantly reducing pesticide and herbicide use and banning the use of persistent toxic pollutants;
- Placing on chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, taxes that will fund subsidies for non-toxic farming
- Removing the tax-free status and allowable production expense of agricultural pesticides and herbicides while they are being phased out, to accelerate compliance;
- Immediately phasing-out the cosmetic use of pesticides and herbicides on lawns, due to the risks to human health and the infringement on the water and air quality.
To protect Ontario's people from the risks involved from chemical and biological
experimentation on our food, the Green Party proposes stringent controls on
food production:
- Pressure the Federal government to ban GMO foods in Canada as they have done in New Zealand and are doing in most of Europe. To simply insist on mandatory food-labelling regulations would be to abandon the Precautionary Principle in something as vital as our food supply. This is an unacceptable risk.
- Ban the use of growth hormones in livestock;
- We would apply the “Precautionary Principle” and phase out/ban the irradiation of foods until long-term and large-scale testing has been completed.
- Support organic farming practices through public
education, research, farm-transition subsidies, and an "Organic-First"
purchasing policy by all government ministries and publicly funded institutions,
including
schools and hospitals.
The Green Party is especially concerned about the livelihood and viability of small-scale farmers. Under the techniques of corporate globalization, small farmers are rendered "uneconomic". Nor can small farmers lobby to the extent that large agro-businesses and food industries can. For this reason, we would create a Standing Committee in the Legislature to serve as a permanent voice for small-farm concerns.
In addition, we would:
- Create a “Certified Organic” Ontario label and verification process.-Introduce financial incentives to support the transition to organic/ecological farming (a method of farming that reduces the competitive disadvantage of small farms vis-a-vis large pesticide-dependent agro-businesses;
- Designate farmland as non-urban land, to protect our food source and farms from urban sprawl;
- Provide 20-year, very-low interest loans for farmland purchase for (young) farmers starting up their own organic farms or purchasing their parents' (or relatives') organic farms up to a maximum acreage)
- Assist in the development and credit-financing of organic agricultural co-operatives that engage in value-added production of organic (consumer) foods.