The tribunal has rejected re-certifications for all three
general farm organizations, leaving them scrambling to try to patch holes in
the dike so they can retain their financing under the Farm Business
Registration Act.
Mark Wales, president of the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture, says it will seek a meeting with officials in the Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) to figure out how to proceed.
One thing he wants is a minor change in the regulations so
it will be clear that when farmers choose one of the three general farm
organizations to get the $195 registration fee they pay, plus HST, it will
cover membership in that organization.
The OMAFRA Appeals Tribunal spent almost a year preparing
its response to the applications for re-certification – they come up every
three years – and has gone into great detail to outline concerns about the Farm
Business Act’s fees being treated as membership fees.
At one point in its decision, the tribunal reveals that it
considered ruling that the $195 is the registration fee and that a membership
fee would be in addition to that payment.
In addition to calling for additional information and
justifications after the public hearings in June, the tribunal consulted
AgriCorp and the Hansard records of debates in the legislature in 2002 when the
Farm Business Registration bill was under discussion.
Wales and Nathan Stephens, interim staff leader at the
Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) both said they will do
whatever’s necessary to gain re-certification.
In the meantime, “it’s business as usual,” Wales said.
He called the tribunal’s ruling “very technical” and said
“we’re not doing anything different from before” when previous tribunals have
granted re-certifications.
As an example of a detail, Wales said the tribunal says the
OFA failed to comply with requirements to file audited financial statements
within 10 days of its annual meeting. Wales said that time period “is chaotic”
at the office and the OFA was 11 days late; “others were up to a year late.”
Another detail: the tribunal wants to know how many farmers
applied for a rebate of their registration fee. Wales said the OFA provides the
total amount refunded, so it’s a simple matter of dividing that total by the
membership fee to know how many farmers got refunds, “but we will provide that
figure in the future.”
The tribunal also questioned the value of “in kind” services
the OFA provides to its locals to show that it devotes at least 25 per cent of
its revenues to supporting locals. Wales said that if field-staff services are
included, the OFA far exceeds the 25 per cent minimum.
“These are things we can work on,” he said of discussions
with OMAFRA. “There’s nothing that can’t be overcome.”
Unlike many tribunal decisions, there is no right of appeal
to the Minister of Agriculture or to divisional courts because the legislation
says the tribunal’s decisions on certifications are final.
(See separate story re. National Farmers Union).
