Better Farming - August 2016

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54 Farm News First > Better Farming August 2016
THEHILL
by BARRY WILSON
W hen the national federal-
provincial farm policy
framework now in place was
being negotiated five years ago, there
was a strong-willed federal agriculture
minister (Gerry Ritz) with a strong
Conservative government agenda to
cut farm support bills for Ottawa and
to prod farmers to become less reliant
on government and more reliant on
markets and private sector insurance
programs.
Most provincial ministers, happy
to hitch a ride on a spending-reduc-
ing program agreement, bought into
the agenda.
Many farm leaders, largely kept in
the dark, were angry at the cuts in
AgriStability, AgriInvest and
AgriRecovery coverage.
Five years later, what a difference.
At least then, there was an agenda.
This summer when agriculture
ministers met in Calgary to intensify
negotiations for Agricultural Policy
Framework III (for those readers
keeping count) that will take effect in
2018 and must be pinned down
within the next year, the dynamic was
entirely different.
There was a new federal minister
(Lawrence MacAulay) with a weak
mandate from the urban-oriented
majority Liberal government and
provincial ministers happy to tag
along even as farm lobbyists de-
manded more transparency in the
negotiations.
And there was one other signifi-
cant change in the APF negotiation
dynamic.
Unlike last time when a deal was
worked out and a Conservative-domi-
nated House of Commons agricul-
ture committee gave it little scrutiny,
a new powerful Parliament Hill
player will be paying attention to how
farmers are faring.
The House of Commons finance
committee – chaired in this session by
23-year veteran MP, former Prince
Edward Island farmer and former
National Farmers’ Union president
Wayne Easter – will be paying more
attention than usual. Typically, farm
policy discussion is shuffled off to the
Commons agriculture committee.
“The main Hill player still will be
the agriculture committee so the APF
and the robustness of farm support
programs will come to us in a kind of
side way,” Easter said in an interview.
“For too long agriculture has been
pigeon-holed and not considered part
of the broader economic issue but as
I see it, the finance committee can go
anywhere, look at anything connected
to the economy and agriculture is an
important economic driver . . . Not to
over-emphasize it but to give it its
due.”
In other words, in a world in which
farm prices and incomes fluctuate
and recent record farm income levels
are bound to decline while farm debt
continues to reach record levels every
year, if agricultural support programs
come out of the APF III negotiations
diminished or not enhanced, involved
agricultural officials and politicians
may have some explaining to do.
“This committee is not going to be
taking its direction from the govern-
ment,” said Easter. “In dealing with
me, I’m not shy about challenging the
system, and that includes in agricul-
ture and government policy.”
As chair of the finance committee,
67-year-old Easter will have signifi-
cant influence on what the committee
chooses to investigate. Agricultural
supports may well be one of them.
Over his remarkable political
career in farm and federal politics, he
has shown himself to be an effective
survivor and pragmatist.
As president of the youth wing
and then national president of the
NFU, Easter was the face of farmer
radicalism, organizing tractor
boycotts and Parliament Hill rallies to
protest government policy, program
erosion and low prices.
Then in 1993, when he decided to
enter federal politics, he became a
Liberal despite years of protesting
Liberal and Progressive Conservative
agriculture policies because that was
the only way to get elected in PEI.
He won a grueling riding race for the
nomination and then the election.
He has held the rural seat through
eight elections, proving himself to be
a loyal Liberal foot soldier (and
cabinet minister) while not afraid to
sometimes challenge the powers-that-
be.
APF III negotiators beware.
Someone with some Parliament Hill
clout is watching. BF
Barry Wilson is a member of the
Parliamentary Press Gallery and specializes
in agriculture.
A powerful ally for farmers
As Canada’s federal and provincial governments negotiate a new round of agricultural policy,
Wayne Easter, veteran politician, former farmer and now head of the House of Commons
finance committee, will be watching.
Wayne Easter