Keep ag. research going

Hon. Jim Wilson

Minister of Northern Development & Mines

OPEN LETTER

Dear Minister Wilson,

As you are aware, the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station is slated for closure at the end of this month. The University of Guelph made the decision after your government cut back funding to the University from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

To close this facility at the end of October would mean all the work and data for this year would be wasted because the data obtained this year would not be analyzed.

As the Minister responsible for Northern Development, I am asking your Ministry to step in and provide funding, so this important facility does not close at the end of the month. This facility not only assists farmers in this region who benefit from the research done at the station, but it also employs highly skilled researchers here in the Northwest. The Northwest cannot afford to lose this station.

The fact is this-the Conservative government has stored 5 years worth of Northern Ontario Heritage Fund dollars in a bank account. That adds up to $300 million dollars. I ask you to invest now in the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station to keep this facility open for the benefit of the agricultural industry in Northwestern Ontario.

Yours truly,

Howard Hampton, MPP

Kenora-Rainy River.