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Decentralized Democracy

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Huron—Bruce
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • 408 Queen St. P.O. Box 426 Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 Lisa.Thompsonco@pc.ola.org
  • tel: 519-523-4251
  • fax: 226-523-9296
  • Lisa.Thompson@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page
  • Feb/21/24 11:10:00 a.m.

I really am pleased and proud to share with you that not only are farmers responding to the importance and the need to drive innovation to realize efficiencies and increase yields, but our processors are as well, and our programs are hitting the mark.

Just last week, I was in Strathroy, and I visited Nortera. It’s a processing plant that specializes in frozen vegetables. They actually have plants in Strathroy, Ingersoll and Tecumseh in southwestern Ontario, and they process 635 million pounds of frozen vegetables. Last year, they actually invested in new technologies to drive line efficiencies that ultimately resulted from a new enhanced bagging and scale piece of equipment. This spring, based on success, they’re actually investing in new optical sorting equipment that will drive continued product quality.

Again, Speaker, our strategy to grow Ontario is working, and—

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  • Dec/4/23 11:30:00 a.m.

I think it’s safe to say that we appreciate very much that farmers are early adopters of new technologies and best practices to drive production numbers, and our processors stand beside them in that regard. I read recently that researchers are forecasting an increase of US$12 billion to be invested in information technology, robotics and sensors that are going to continue to drive innovation, and it’s important that our legislation here provincially in Ontario matches what is happening on the ground.

And so that is why it’s very important that in tandem to investing in significant processes that lead to innovation, we need to make sure we catch up our legislation as well. That’s why I was very pleased to present Bill 155 last week, so we can amend the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario Act and make sure it’s modernized and supporting farmers and processors alike, so we continue to stay on the forefront—

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