Eastern and Western Wardens' Caucus joined OFA in Queen's Park
By Jennifer Jackson
Farms.com News Team
Farmers have reason for optimism today, as a new province-wide partnership puts added pressure on plans to extend natural gas access beyond city lines.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) was joined at Queen’s Park today by both the Eastern and Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus chairs in Toronto to express the need for natural gas in rural Ontario.
Together the new partnership has made it their goal to work with both the provincial government and gas companies to achieve pipeline installation across the province over the next 20 years.
Benefits of natural gas were outlined by OFA president Don McCabe. “Access across the province could save Ontario farmers, business owners and rural residents more than $1 billion annually in energy costs.”
Don McCabe
Farm leaders have stated their concerns that increasingly high energy costs are not sustainable for communities or farm operations.
“Natural gas is the answer to reducing energy costs, developing our businesses and growing our rural communities,” noted mayor and chair of the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus Randy Hope.
Access to natural gas – and the associated cost savings – have been an OFA priority for some time. The federation said today they expect the new partnership to bring increased attention to the issues.