McGuinty Supports Province-wide Nutrient Management Standards but

Provincial legislation that will stop cities from turning away factory hog farms within their boundaries has left opponents of the intensive livestock operations looking toward the Liberals as potential white knights.

But as of yesterday, Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty had not committed to banning the megabarns, should his party win the election expected this year.

Last month, as part of the Rural Red Tape Reduction Act, the provincial government ruled that the distance between factory farms and residential areas must be based solely on provincial regulations, and that cities cannot pass bylaws to increase those distances.

Ottawa Councillor Phil McNeely, who represents the village of Sarsfield, where a Quebec company is trying to put a 1,045-sow hog farm, says a three-kilometre buffer is needed next to their residential neighbours. The government calls for a buffer of less than one kilometre.

But Mr. McGuinty said yesterday he does not favour allowing cities to set regulations on hog-farm proximity. And he added he couldn't say yet whether the Sarsfield operation would be allowed under the rules his government would bring in.

Mr. McNeely said the city's best hope for keeping such farms away from residents would be a Liberal victory.

Mr. McGuinty said: "We believe there should be very clear, comprehensive, stringent, province-wide nutrient management rules to protect our drinking water. Otherwise, we risk getting into a checkerboard approach across the province.

"My intention is to have in place a kind of a policy that will be universally respected because it is intelligent and tough and won't require that municipalities get into amending it in any way. We're going to develop rules together with municipalities which are going to tell us exactly where we should be in that thing," Mr. McGuinty added.

While saying "our rules will be tougher" on hog factories than those of the governing Conservatives, Mr. McGuinty did not offer specifics.

Mr. McNeely supported the Liberal leader. He denied his reaction to Mr. McGuinty's comments was tempered by the fact he is vying for the Liberal nomination for Ottawa-Orleans.

"I've been fighting this issue long before I thought of running for the province," he said.

He directed his criticism instead at former agriculture minister and current Ottawa-Orl?ans MPP Brian Coburn.

"Give me a break," Mr. Coburn countered. "From day one we said that the provincial Nutrient Management Act would supercede any municipal bylaws because of the importance of providing a regulation that applied equally across the province."