By MPP Bobbi Ann Brady
Last week, I wrote about a federal Senate report entitled Critical Ground, led by the Honourable Robert Black. In that column, I highlighted Canada’s agricultural sector and described it for what it truly is: an economic powerhouse that feeds our country, supports rural communities, and strengthens our national security.
This week, I want to bring that conversation closer to home by sifting through Ontario’s agricultural contributions. More importantly, we need to examine what steps must be taken now to ensure the right safeguards are in place — safeguards that protect our farmland, support our farmers, and secure Ontario’s food sovereignty not just for today, but for generations to come.
To save our soil, we must stop urban sprawl from devouring our best farmland and empower our farmers to adopt regenerative techniques that heal the land. The clock is ticking and experts warn that without a change in course, 90 per cent of global topsoil could face degradation by 2050.
However, research without action is just a history book of our own decline. That is why Mike Schreiner and I are stepping up to turn the Critical Ground recommendations into reality here in Ontario by bringing forward Bill 21 – the Protect Our Food Act, or you might hear it referred to as the Foodbelt Bill.
Bill 21 creates the permanent protections Ontario needs to ensure our prime farmland remains farmland, not parking lots. The bill establishes the Foodbelt Protection Plan Advisory Committee which would make recommendations for a Foodbelt Protection Plan that would ensure the preservation and enhancement of a geographically continuous land base. MPP Schreiner and I are fighting to ensure ‘critical ground’ doesn’t become ‘lost ground.’
When Bill 21 comes up for debate in the coming months, the Ford government will have the opportunity to become a leader by putting into action the recommendations of the Senate committee and finally recognizing soil as a strategic asset.
It’s important to recognize Ontario’s agri-food sector isn’t just a rural industry—it is a central pillar of our provincial economy, contributing over $50 billion to our GDP annually. This sector supports nearly one million jobs —11 per cent of Ontario’s workforce is tied to the agri-food chain.
But the staggering reality is that Ontario is home to over 52 per cent of Canada’s Class 1 farmland—the best, most productive soil in the country and we are paving it over at an unsustainable rate. Class 1 soil is a “non-renewable resource”—once it’s under asphalt, the biological complexity is destroyed forever.
We are losing the very foundation that allows Ontario and Canada to be a global leader in food exports. When that soil is gone, it doesn’t come back. Think about this: it takes centuries to build an inch of topsoil, but only one bulldozer to destroy it forever.
Bill 21 is a shield. It is a common-sense, practical, non-partisan strategy to protect our food. Both MPP Schreiner and I have been travelling to different municipalities to make our pitch for support through resolutions. For example, I recently presented to the Haldimand County Agricultural Advisory Committee. The committee moved to have Council hear our deputation and pass a formal resolution in support of protecting our local and provincial agricultural future.
In an era of global supply chain instability, the most patriotic thing we can do is ensure we can feed ourselves. Make no mistake, we are also protecting the character of our rural communities. When a multi-generational farm is paved over, we don’t just lose the crop; we lose the local equipment dealer, the community fall fair, and the deep-rooted institutional knowledge of the families who know that land better than any map, any developer, or any bureaucrat sitting in an office tower.
We have a choice. We can look back 40 years from now and realize we were the generation that watched our food security erode, or we can act now. I hope Premier Ford feels the same way.
Bobbi Ann Brady is the MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk