“Our government is committed to supporting farmers, especially when they face the crippling challenge of losing their livestock to predators.
That’s why our government re-opened the conversation on the Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program last fall, and sought feedback from our partners during the evaluation process.
This feedback was tremendously valuable and, based on what we heard, we are making a series of improvements that will better serve our farmers, including improved communication with farmers and municipal investigators for claims and appeals — which is effective immediately.
Our next step will start in fall 2018. Our government will deliver training and tools for municipal investigators so that they have all the skills, background and knowledge to investigate suspected livestock predation.
Beginning next winter, farmers and municipal investigators will have more ways to prove wildlife predation occurred, and will benefit from greater independence and transparency in the appeals process.
Finally, we are committed to ensuring Ontario’s producers receive compensation in alignment with market prices. And so, the federal and provincial governments will, as one example, provide separate compensation pricing for steers and heifers.
Our government is working closely with our agricultural partners to implement these changes by early 2019 to help provide the best support for our hardworking farmers across the province.”
Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
