Ontario’s growers of cut flowers, potted plants and bedding annuals have voted to be represented by Flowers Canada (Ontario) and to pay a mandatory checkoff to fund it.
Eligible greenhouse floriculture growers voted 78.4 per cent in favour of Flowers Canada (Ontario) becoming their representative organization — and in favour of paying an annual license fee of two cents per square foot of greenhouse area to a maximum $13,000 to fund the association’s work, the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission reported Thursday.
The ‘aye’ votes account for 90.7 per cent of the total square footage of those who voted, the commission noted.
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“The commission needed to see a clear majority of growers supporting such
a request before we could confidently proceed with a recommendation to (Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky), and that is reflected in this outcome,” said commission chairman Dave Hope in a news release.
The mail-in vote was held between Jan. 10 and 23, generating a response rate of 51.7 per cent out of 356 known eligible producers. To be eligible, a voter had to produce a minimum of 20,000 square feet of cut flowers, potted plants, annuals or “propagative plant materials.”
Greenhouse operators running less than 20,000 square feet will be exempt from paying the mandatory checkoff, the commission noted.
Flowers Canada (Ontario) emphasized in January that a positive vote would help make it the representative body for eligible growers, not the regulatory body.
