(Queen’s Park) – In the Legislature today, MPP Randy Hillier grilled the Agriculture Minister in support of his colleague’s, MPP Bob Runciman’s Bill 132, Liquor Licence Amendment Act (Fruit Wine), 2008. The Bill would provide access to farmers markets for Ontario’s burgeoning fruit wine industry.
During Question Period Hillier grilled the Minister on Countryman’s Estate Winery recently announced bankruptcy. “Bill 132 was promised swift passage by your House Leader, and yet it collects dust in some black hole, while the sheriffs are off to the Countryman’s Winery,” Hillier blasted. “More lost jobs, more lost industry, fewer local producers and a continuation of your long dark streak of misery. Everyone likes Bill 132 and the fruit wine it represents, I do, the industry does, the Speaker, your caucus…why don’t you like it?” he demanded.
The Minister’s response was business as usual, lacking in substance, and left the Countryman’s and the entire fruit wine industry in limbo,” Hillier noted. “This government has one record: more broken promises, longer unemployment lines, more tax grabs and a have not status. And now we have one less local producer because this Minister has hog tied the industry’s access to farmers markets.”
PC Opposition Leader, and Bill 132’s author MPP Bob Runciman was less than impressed with the Minister’s response. “The government's failure to pass Bill 132, after their members supported it and spoke in favour during 2nd reading debate, shows the dishonesty of the Liberal government," asserted Runciman. "They say one thing and then do the complete opposite and in this case their deceit is contributing to the failure of a unique and growing business."
Before the close of today’s Question Period, Hillier rose a third time and asked for unanimous consent for the immediate passage of Bill 132. “Much to my dismay, the response from the Liberal benches was a resounding ‘NO!’” Hillier concluded.
Randy Hillier, MPP Lanark Frontenac Lennox, is a co-founder of the Lanark Landowners Association, which was brought to life to address government imposition on the rights of private property owners, and to address the regressive regulatory impositions that government was bringing down upon farmers and business owners in rural Ontario.
In 2006, Randy resigned as President of the OLA in order to run as a candidate for the Progressive Conservatives. Randy was elected in the 2007 provincial election.
Randy a long-time resident of Lanark County, an electrician by trade and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), continues to co-publish and edit rural Ontario’s successful magazine “The Landowner.”
