Town hall meeting proceeds despite ag minister no-show

Monday, April 25, 2011

by PAT CURRIE

Even the failure of federal Conservative Agriculture and Food Minister Gerry Ritz to attend was a cloud with a silver lining, organizers of an April 21 town hall meeting in Stratford said Tuesday.

"If it had been a multi-party event there might have been a lot of mud-slinging. We didn’t want that," said Stewart Skinner, a Listowel hog farmer, who moderated the town hall sponsored by Farmers Matter, a grassroots farm advocacy organization found in mid-2010.

Ritz, who had attended a Farmers Matter town hall last November, declined an invitation to attend because of "prior commitments and time constraints," his office said.

"I guess they're busy in various ridings and must feel the farming ridings in southwestern Ontario are safely held by Conservatives," said Clare Schlegel, a Tavistock area hog farmer.

On hand was Liberal agricultural critic and Malpeque, P.E.I. MP Wayne Easter and Perth-Wellington Liberal candidate Bob McTavish.

Skinner said 150 to 200 people – "they were coming and going" – listened as the Liberals’ agriculture policy was explained "and asked a lot of questions."

That fulfilled the main goal of providing farmers with more information needed to cast their ballots in the May 2 federal election for candidates who represent parties with policies most attractive to the farm vote, Skinner said.

Farmers Matter’s website has asked farmers to sign an online pledge to vote for whatever party has the best agriculture policy.

"We have had about 350 signed to date by farmers from all over the country, from as far away as the Prairies to Quebec and down East," Skinner said.

Farmers Matter board chair John Nyenhuis termed attendance "a little disappointing" but rated it "a good opportunity to find out where the federal Liberals stand. It helps keep farmers from just sitting back and not voting when the farm vote might make a major difference in this election."

"Timing was an issue, " he said, not so much because the town hall was staged late in the election campaign but because a rainy spring has put spring planting well behind schedule.

"When the sun comes out and spring’s coming on, we get spring fever. It’s time to put a crop in the ground. At this time last year the crop was in. This year some guys don’t have a seed in the ground," he said.

Skinner, who said Farmers Matter took a neutral stance at the town hall, said he couldn’t detect any clues to how farmers at the town hall might vote.

"Historically, the farm vote is conservative, although younger farmers might think a bit differently," Skinner said.

Nyenhuis said a farm community that’s more active politically might keep the Conservatives "from getting a little slack. I would have loved seeing Ritz up there debating with Easter and the NDP."

Both Nyenhuis and Skinner said the town hall experience will likely lead to better-organized town hall meetings during the coming October provincial election. BF