In June, OFVGA was pleased to see Bill C-280, the Financial Protection for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Farmers Act, introduced by Member of Parliament Scot Davidson in the House of Commons.

This important piece of legislation would establish a critical financial protection mechanism for fresh produce sellers in Canada in the case of buyer bankruptcy, which would also open the door for the United States to reinstate preferential access for Canadian sellers to protection under the U.S. Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).

Bill C-280 is anticipated to come up for debate in the House of Commons later this fall, and OFVGA is supporting the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association to ramp up efforts to gather cross-party support. Now we need your help in making sure your MP knows how important it is to support the fresh produce sector in Canada by voting in favour of Bill C-280.

To help you amplify this message with your MP, FVGC, CPMA with the support of OFVGA, have created a number of resources:

• A dedicated C-280 website (protectproducesales.ca), developed as a central hub of information, tools and updates.
• A template letter of support for members to use in their outreach to MPs (available on the “How can I help?” section of the website.) Or access the template by clicking here.
• An infographic outlining the importance of Bill C-280, which can be shared with MPs for further information (available on the “Why do we need Bill C-280?” section of the website.) – a hard copy was distributed in the September edition of The Grower, and attached to this email for easy access.

We have heard clearly that outreach from individual growers will be crucial to building the necessary support to move Bill C-280 forward. If you are eager to support this initiative, but don’t know where to start or need further help or information, don’t hesitate to contact Gordon Stock at gstock@ofvga.org.