Second from left Mike Schreiner, Green Party of Ontario Leader and MPP for Guelph, with staff from Market Fresh in Guelph Credit: Green Party of Ontario
Over 30 years ago, Foxcroft Organic Farm, run by Bernie and Karen Fox, delivered free range eggs, vegetables and fruit grown on their farm along with meat and poultry from Rowe Farms to my home in Etobicoke. My family’s move to Burlington meant I was closer to Foxcroft — located in Scotland, Ontario — so those deliveries kept on arriving. But when Bernie and Karen decided to stop door delivery to focus on organic farmers’ markets like the one that popped up Saturdays on Markham St. near the old Honest Ed’s store in Toronto, I started ordering organic groceries from Weekly Organic Wonder – better known as WOW Foods — located in Guelph, Ontario.
People didn’t understand when I told them that I ordered from local organic producers in order to lower my family’s carbon footprint. Explaining that I didn’t buy US dairy because American farmers injected their cows with bovine somatotropin (BST) – a growth hormone that increased milk production — nor US meat or poultry because of growth hormones and the over use of antibiotics would generate strange looks. Folks definitely thought I was “crazy” when I said that if Canadians continued relying on US imports, one day they would come to regret that decision when the Americans shut the border or simply withheld food exports. And, yes, I fully believed the US would for a wide variety of reasons not the least of which was political intimidation to access our natural resources like water, oil and valuable rare earth minerals.
It just makes sense that any country that can’t feed itself is undermining its own sovereignty and self-determination. Yet, that’s exactly what the Ford government is doing to Ontarians by enacting Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025.
Passed in June 2025, Bill 5 is supposed to fast-track major projects, but in the process it undermined Indigenous rights, labour laws and democratic oversight; reduced environmental protections; decimated species at risk protections; and gave cabinet members the power to create Special Economic Zones (SEZ) where cabinet members have exclusive oversight to decide which projects and companies are exempt from the law. Bill 5 really sets the stage for political interference, influence and corruption.
Today, I’m joined by Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario and MPP for Guelph, to discuss the impacts Bill 5 could have on farming, food production and food consumption in Ontario.
GPO Leader and MPP for Guelph, Mike Schreiner sitting on tractor with GPO Deputy Leader and MPP for Kitchener Centre, Aislinn Clancey and a local farmer Credit: Green Party of Ontario
Mike grew up on a grain farm before earning a bachelors degree in business administration and history as well as a master’s degree in history.
Mike was an entrepreneur with a focus on sustainable food production and delivery starting with Toronto Organics. When Mike and his wife moved to the Guelph area he started WOW Foods — also known as Weekly Organic Wonder — and was awarded the Citizens Bank of Canada Ethics in Action Award for creating a socially responsible business as well as the Toronto Food Policy Council’s Local Food Hero Award. Mike also co-founded Earthdance Organics that created baked goods and prepared foods for local health food stores, farmers’ markets and WOW customers.
In 2005, Mike co-founded Local Food Plus, a Toronto-based non-profit that brought farmers and consumers together creating a socially, environmentally and fiscally sustainable local food system. Local Food Plus certified farmers and processors in Ontario, and across the country, who used sustainable practices. Consumers were encouraged to vote with their buying power.
GPO Leader and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner with community cooking group Credit: Green Party of Ontario
With his extensive background in sustainable farming, food production and food delivery ventures; volunteering with food organizations and The Toronto Food Policy Council; as well as working to ensure university and college students have access to quality, local sustainable food; Mike is the perfect person to tell Small Change listeners why Ontarians should buy local produce, meats, dairy and prepared foods.
We also discus the impact farming and food production have on Ontario’s economy including how many folks are employed either directly growing and harvesting food or in industries that process foods, sell food as well as the restaurant and entertainment industries.
Listeners might be surprised to hear about how little prime farmland Ontario actually has and just how quickly we are losing that farmland to development. Of course, we discuss Bill 5, how it will accelerate the loss of farmland and the impact that will have on rural communities.
Mike is so concerned about the accelerated loss of farmland that he teamed up with Bobbi Ann Brady, Independent MPP for Haldiman-Norfolk, to introduce the Protect Our Foodbelt Act at Queen’s Park. That bill would create a Foodbelt to permanently protect Ontario’s agricultural lands from being paved over while also protecting farms, keeping food affordable and keeping rural communities strong.
This is a podcast that everyone needs to listen to and share, because if we don’t act to save our farmland now we won’t be able to feed ourselves later. And, I for one have no intention of becoming the 51st state!
Sign Mike’s petition and tell Premier Ford to support the Protect Our Foodbelt Act.
Find out more about the Green Party of Ontario here.
You can also find my work in Public Parking Publication, herizons, rabble.ca and on my Wix site. Follow me on Instagram, X @doreennicoll61, Bluesky @nicollneedschange and Facebook.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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