Candidates find some common ground

Published: April 21, 2009 7:00 PM Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star

There’s little support for meat processing regulations among those vying to become MLA. Four Vernon-Monashee candidates told a crowd of almost 100 at All Saints Anglican Church Monday that they oppose or have concerns about rules that force all meat to be slaughtered in a licensed facility. “If we’re going to regulate it, what’s next? Are we going to regulate turnips,” said Conservative Dean Skoreyko, who demanded to know why the regulations were implemented by the government in 2007. Liberal Eric Foster insisted that the rules are to promote safety, but added that he has called for changes so farm-gate sales are allowed. “I would continue to take these concerns to Victoria because we need to examine the regulations.” For Huguette Allen, with the Greens, the focus should be on meat coming from large processing plants and not from small farms. “There’s never been a problem,” she said of local beef, poultry and pork. “The only safe system we’ve had is a local food system.” NDP candidate Mark Olsen believes the rules have seriously impacted farmers’ ability to get meat processed but the Liberals continue to defend the initiative. “The only way to change it is to change the government,” he said. As the focus of the forum was agriculture and food, other issues revolved around the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget, food policies, fish farms and preservation of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

But the debate got heated when the candidates were asked how they would reduce poverty and increase food security. “In a province as rich as B.C., it’s shameful that one in four children are living in poverty,” said Olsen, who wants the minimum wage hiked to $10 an hour and social assistance tied to inflation. However, Allen is adamant that globalization and government rules have allowed cheap food to come into B.C. so families are unable to buy local. “We would put on a carbon tax and it would be high for imports. It would be lower for low-income people and farmers,” she said. Foster told the crowd that the Liberals have supported those in need by eliminating income tax for people who earn less than $16,000 and providing rent subsidies. “We must get the economy back on track and get people back to work.” Referring to Olsen’s comments, Skoreyko said increasing the minimum wage could actually hurt food production by raising farmers’ labour costs. “We must allow farmers to be productive and competitive.”

The four also squared off on the provincial carbon tax. “We will eliminate the carbon tax because it’s not working. Fuel consumption has gone up since we initiated this tax,” said Olsen, who supports a cap-in-trade (credit) system to offset greenhouse gases. But Allen slammed the NDP strategy. “We need a larger carbon tax than we have now. Cap-in-trade is slow and the only thing that will make a difference is a strong carbon tax,” she said of the fight against climate change. Foster defended the implementation of the carbon tax. “It’s a good initiative to get people to use less fuel to reduce their carbon footprint,” he said. Opposition to both the carbon tax and cap-in-trade came from Skoreyko. “It’s a punitive and unfair tax. It will drive up our costs,” he said. Monday’s forum was hosted by the Food Action Society of the North Okanagan.