The Hill: A minister who says what Ontario farmers want to hear

Monday, March 31, 2008

by BARRY WILSON

Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Geri Kamenz knew he was the skunk at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) garden party in late February when he praised federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz after a controversial speech.

The minister was saying what Ontario farmers want to hear, said the Ontario farm leader. He is delivering the goods. But most of Kamenz' CFA comrades had a very different, more hostile view of Ritz and his performance at the late February CFA annual meeting.

The federal minister had just delivered a speech to the national farm lobby that was blunt, unusually partisan and, on the issue of the Canadian Wheat Board, dismissive of the relevance of the CFA.

The Conservative government is going to end the wheat board monopoly over malt and export barley sales, said Ritz, and farm groups can either agree or get out of the way. He only listened to Prairie farm groups which agreed with his view that the wheat board should lose its marketing monopoly. The CFA and its members were not on his consult list.

The Ritz performance, unprecedented before Canada's largest and most powerful farm lobby, drew sharp criticism from many CFA delegates and provincial farm leaders.

Arrogance, disrespect, kick in the teeth were among the most printable comments after the minister left without taking questions.

Kamenz said afterwards that he understood the anger of his western colleagues in the CFA. Quebec and Atlantic farm leaders also condemned Ritz for undermining farmers' collective marketing tools and diminishing the importance of the CFA.

But Kamenz found no fault with the basic Ritz message. Before the minister got to the harsh words about Prairie grain marketing rules, he had outlined other government policies - from support for supply management to livestock support and new farm programming rules.

Kamenz liked what he heard. "That will be a different message from what you generally hear here today," the OFA president conceded.

Indeed it was, but it also was a clear indication to Prairie observers that, while the Conservatives have been rigid, righteous, focused and divisive on the Prairies, where they regularly win almost all the rural seats, their message has been resonating in the all-important rural seats of Ontario where the Conservatives must win big to have any hope of a majority in the next election.

"He said all the right things with the obvious exception from a western point of view of his comments around the barley issue," Kamenz said. "As he spoke about issues that relate to Central Canada, I would suggest he said all the right things. You measure them by what they have done and he has done what producers asked for on the World Trade Organization, on delivering for the red meat industry, on supply management. They have followed up and delivered."

This will be music to the ears of Conservatives looking to argue that they have earned the support of rural Ontario. It also reflects the Ontario ambivalence about the Prairie debate over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. Defenders of the board say an end to the monopoly means an end to the board as a market player.

The continued relevance of the Ontario wheat board after losing its monopoly makes Ontario uncertain about the legitimacy of the Prairie wheat board angst.

Meanwhile, Ritz promotes Ontario-friendly policies. What can Kamenz do but praise him for a job well done, whatever the views of his CFA colleagues? BF

Barry Wilson is a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery specializing in agriculture.