Environment minister may have another bad case of foot-in-mouth disease, says Huron-Bruce MPP

Provincial environment minister Glen Murray has not been content with his attack on Ontario grain farmers, and has now turned his attention to Ontario's beef farmers by encouraging policies that are damaging to the industry, says Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, Progressive Conservative (PC) critic for environment and Cap-and-Trade.

 

"The minister's remarks, at an event April 20, to stop eating red meat on Mondays to combat climate change, shows a profound disconnect from, and lack of understanding about, the importance of this industry to our province," says Thompson. "Even a former OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) staffer and Liberal candidate of record took to Twitter to criticize the minister for these comments."

 

A report published in January by the Beef Cattle Research Council and Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, found that greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide from beef production, have decreased over the past 30 years.

 

"The minister needs to clarify if this is the direction the premier and agriculture minister have decided on, or if he's got another bad case of foot-in-mouth disease," says Thompson.

 

In response to Thompson's question, the minister failed to provide any clarity for Ontario beef farmers.

 

View Thompson's question to environment minister Murray here: http://tinyurl.com/jlruts3.