GILMOUR: Ford must protect Ontario’s food supply

QUEEN’S PARK — Ontario NDP MPP Alexa Gilmour (Parkdale—High Park) is calling on the Ford government to act now, and protect the Ontario Food Terminal:

“The Ontario Food Terminal moves two billion pounds of produce every year,” said Gilmour. “It connects more than 400 farmers with over 5,000 buyers, and supports more than 100,000 jobs, many from my riding.

“Now, the land beside this vital food hub — along with three other Toronto employment lands — is under threat of rezoning. Farmers rise before dawn for these employment lands. Truck drivers, warehouse workers, small grocers, restaurant owners, school nutrition programs, and food banks all depend on them. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

“At a time when families are skipping groceries, when workers are anxious, and when food security should be treated as sacred, the Ford government is failing to safeguard one of our food system’s greatest pillars.

“Our farmland, our food supply, our jobs — these are things a government is meant to care for, not gamble with. Will Doug Ford be a steward of Ontario’s food future, and protect the employment lands we all depend upon, or has he already cut a backroom deal to sell them off?”