The Beef Beat

By Katherine Fox, BFO Manager of Policy and Issues katherine@ontariobeef.com • www.ontariobeef.com

Policy in the Time of COVID

I won’t lie – 2020 has been busy and has not gone according to plan. Of my years spent at BFO, every day has been different, but it’s never been like this. Regularly scheduled work for BFO’s policy team typically means we steadily work on resolutions and emerging issues that come and (sometimes) go. Projects are managed over a set timeline, and regulatory and legislative issues and proposals from government often have a bit of a rhythm. This year, COVID-19 took over our regularly scheduled programming and every day has been an adventure of “what will happen today?” and “is this the day I beat my record for most video conference meetings?”.

But the wheel of time has carried us all the way into the middle of 2020, and COVID-19 has become the setting in which we carry on with the work that is familiar to the policy team at BFO: addressing regulatory and legislative proposals, responding to resolutions, managing projects, advocating to government and handling emerging issues. The provincial government has also gotten back into the groove a bit, with proposals and consultations picking up again and projects finding new timelines. Here’s a round-up of the behind-the-scenes policy work at BFO these days.

Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act

Bill 156, the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, was voted on and passed in the Ontario Legislature in June. This new legislation will better protect farmers, their animals, livestock transporters, and the province’s food supply from trespassers and extreme animal rights activists. Over the past several months, BFO and other livestock and agriculture organizations have been actively involved in the consultation process as part of the development of this proposed legislation, including making a presentation to Ontario’s Standing Committee on General Government. Next steps for the act include developing the accompanying regulation over the next few months.

Nutrient Management Act

We continue to work on reducing the administrative burden associated with the Nutrient Management Act, especially the fiveyear renewal requirement for nutrient management plans. BFO and other agriculture and livestock organizations have discussed this issue with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Ministry of the Environment and Conservation and Parks staff through the relatively new “Nutrient Management Efficiency and Continuous Improvement Discussion Forum”. This group has also been working on ways to make annual nutrient management updates and recordkeeping more efficient.

AGM Resolutions

We’re at about the halfway point for responding to resolutions that were passed at BFO’s AGM in February. You can find responses to this year’s resolutions on BFO’s website at www.ontariobeef.com/policy-issues/resolution-responses.aspx. Here you’ll find information on issues like updating Canada’s BSE risk status (our application is in and a response is expected spring 2021), processing capacity challenges, outreach to students about beef and its environmental impacts, funding for Ontario’s Risk Management Program (RMP) and more.

Risk Management Program

Speaking of the RMP, we had a good day in July when the provincial government announced an additional $50 million for the program, bringing total annual funds to $150 million. I think we’re all acutely aware of how long we’ve been asking for more support for the RMP, and persistence in our grassroots lobby efforts paid off. Thank you to everyone who has ever spoken to their MPP about the importance of this program.

BFO appreciates the provincial government’s acknowledgement of our calls for additional support in the RMP, but we, of course, always have more work to do. This is a hard time in Ontario’s beef industry, and we’re going to need more wins. We continue to push for improvements to the federal suite of business risk management programs, and movement towards removing interprovincial trade barriers. And now that our application to update Canada’s BSE risk status is in, we have work to do on amending specified risk material (SRM) removal regulations both federally and provincially to put us on a more level playing field with the U.S. and lower costs at federal and provincial plants.

While we continue forward with the usual business of BFO’s policy team, COVID-19 related issues persist. Government-funded programs meant to support businesses during the pandemic have fallen short for the agriculture sector in many ways. Working with CCA and other groups, BFO continues to push our federal government for improvements to make programs more accessible and useful to beef producers.

As always, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions or issues you want to bring to our attention. All the best as we continue on in this time of COVID-19.