[All] Local Food and the PPS 2005

Thu Nov 4 12:02:45 EDT 2010

Hi folks

Their PPS comments provided by the Waterloo Food System Roundtable includes statements regarding quarries and urban sprawl. It's good "food for thought."

Louisette

--- On Thu, 11/4/10, Marc Xuereb <MXuereb at regionofwaterloo.ca> wrote:

From: Marc Xuereb <MXuereb at regionofwaterloo.ca>
Subject: [WRFoodNews] Waterloo Region Food News - Nov 4, 2010
To: "'wrfoodnews at wrfoodsystem.ca'" <wrfoodnews at wrfoodsystem.ca>
Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010, 9:26 AM

This edition of WRFoodNews is a long one!  Upcoming events
are listed at the bottom and on the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable's
website at www.wrfoodsystem.ca. 

Elmira Produce Auction featured in The Record 

The Elmira Produce Auction was featured on the front page of The
Record's Business section on November 1st.   The article lauds the Auction's
contribution to making more local food available in urban restaurants and
markets, and its contribution to farmer incomes.  It also describes some
of the Auction's challenges over the years, and the new wholesale business
called JayWest, started earlier this year by the former Auction manager. 
The article is reprinted from a series on published on The Tyee called Growing the
Local Bounty, which looks at what's working in Ontario and BC to make the
food system more sustainable. 

Roundtable issues statement on Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) 

The Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable submitted a six-page
letter to the Province of Ontario on October 31st suggesting several
revisions to the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), the document which guides
municipal land use policy decisions across the province.  The submission
points out the absence of any reference to planning for food systems in the
document, and asks the province to consider putting in policies which protect
prime agricultural lands and which provide better access to places to buy food
in cities.  It also suggests putting a higher priority on preserving
agricultural lands than on mineral aggregate extraction.  The full
submission can be viewed here. 

300 Planners learn how to plan for food systems at annual conference 

The annual meeting of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute
drew almost 300 Planners to a two-day meeting focused exlusively on how to plan
for a healthy food system.  The conference, which took place October 28
and 29 in Guelph, had numerous presentations by Planners urging greater
attention and resources dedicated to addressing farmland preservation and urban
food access.  See the full program here. 
See a presentation made at the conference by the Ontario Ministry of Muncipal
Affairs and Housing on how and why Planners should pay attention to food issues
here. 

Wilmot farm sign dispute 

Wilmot Township pumpkin farmer Kevin Shantz is caught up in a
dispute over possibly conflicting Township and Regional By-Laws about signage
on country roads.  Wilmot Township By-Law enforcement officials told
Shantz to take down road signs directing customers to his farm, while Regional
By-Laws explicitly permit such signs.  Two articles in Ontario Farmer
describe details of the dispute: one on October
14th and another on October
19th.  Waterloo Federation of Agriculture Vice-President and
Roundtable member Mark
Reusser is quoted in the articles as hoping that the Township will find a
way to permit the signs. 

Proposed Canada-Europe trade pact threatens food sovereignty, NFU says 

The Canadian government and the European Union (EU) are
negotiating a new "free trade" agreement, the Comprehensive Economic
and Trade Agreement (CETA).   National Farmers Union (NFU) President,
Terry Boehm, warns this agreement will further intensify Canada's farm income
crisis: "The CETA would mean many changes, but none more negative than its
effect to extinguish farmers' rights to save and re-use seeds."  Read
the NFU's CETA
Fact Sheet and more background on the CETA at www.nfu.ca. 

Trade panel strikes down Ontario/Quebec butter regulations 

In other trade news, a trade panel set up under Canada's Agreement
on Internal Trade (AIT) has ruled that Ontario and Quebec regulations violate
the AIT and must be repealed or subject to fines.  The regulations helped
protect dairy farmers in the two provinces by limiting products (like margarines)
which are largely oil-based, forcing the products to contain at least 50% dairy
products.  Farmer groups fear the ruling may set the stage for further
challenges to the provinces' supply management systems which limit production
and imports.  See article in the Globe
& Mail. 

Waterloo Kitchen Table Talks a success 

About 50 people participated in discussions in Waterloo on October
15th about a proposed national food policy, as part of the People's Food Policy Project.  The
discussions focused on the 13 priorities identified at the Waterloo Region Food Summit
held in November 2009 in Kitchener.  See story in The Record. 

Questions about Walmart's plans to expand local food purchasing 

Walmart has committed to buy buying more food from local farmers
as part of a stated plan to enhance its sustainability as a corporation. 
But it's all a matter of how you define "local", according to Jim
Prevor, who wrote about it in his blog, the
Perishable Pundit. 

City orders family to tear up veggies from front garden 

By-Law officers in Toronto ordered a family to remove a vegetable
garden from their front yard, citing a by-law that permits only
"natural" gardens.  Asked what constituted "natural",
city staff responded that grass or flowers would be permitted, but not
vegetables.  See article in the Toronto
Star. 

Ontario releases fund for buying more local food in public institutions 

The Ontario government created a $6 million fund to help public
institutions such as municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals
purchase more local foods for serving their staff, clients and the
public.  The fund recognizes
that, in order for more local food to be offered at public sector institutions,
"changes are needed along the entire value chain involving producers, processors,
distributors, contract caterers, and even the customers served", and is
therefore accepting applications that address the whole value chain.  The
deadline for the current round of applications was November 1. See  http://www.ontariofresh.ca/en/fundinfo.html. 

Upcoming Food Events

Full details on upcoming food-related events in Waterloo Region
can be viewed under Upcoming Events on the
Roundtable's website.  To share news of your event, email details to the
Roundtable's Site
Administrator, who will post it to the website.  Some upcoming
highlights include: 

Making Connections: FoodNet
Ontario AGM - November 8, London 

Food Secure Canada AGM - November
26-28, Montreal 

The Perils of Processed Food -
November 30, KPL Forest Heights Branch, Kitchener 

Marc Xuereb 

staff support to the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable 

c/o 99 Regina Street South, 3rd Floor 

Waterloo, ON N2J 4V3 

519.883.2004 x.5872 

MXuereb at regionofwaterloo.ca 

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