OTTAWA — Embrun dairy farmer Jean-Marie Menard wants to turn Canada Day on Parliament Hill into a farm friendly love-in.

The latest eastern-Ontario style farm protest includes handing out 34,000 containers of all-Canadian ice cream from a Quebec processing plant and squeaky-fresh curds from St. Albert cheese factory to an expected 60,000 people who will flock to Parliament Hill July 1. Menard hopes one of the musicians at the noon-hour concert, which includes pop-rocker Colin James, will carry a "Farmers Feed Cities" poster on stage.

"This is public relations. We call this the common ground rally," said Menard, who noted you can’t have a farm rally without tractors. Hundreds of them, he hopes. Police know they’re coming but this time the grassroots protestors agreed not to park on Wellington Street in front of the peace tower. In April, farmers parked 283 tractors there. "If you want to show you’re serious you bring the tractor," Menard said. "The tractor is good for bringing out the media."

Farmers also plan to hand out tattoos and stickers, as well as flyers explaining to consumers the serious threat of U.S. dumped subsidized corn and soybeans and the imports of foreign milk products.

A Canada Day rally has never been done before, Menard said. "We’re making history again."

Grassroots farmers made history in April when they closed down five food distribution terminals in Ontario, including three in Ottawa over three days.

While Menard, North Gower’s Dwight Foster and Lanark County’s John Vanderspank are expected to lead tractors into Ottawa, dairy farmer Larry Reid will lead a convoy from Renfrew County and Midnight Acres’ Joe Hickson will lead a group from the Peterborough area. Dairy farmer Chris Judd is organizing a group of farmers from Pontiac County, Quebec.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture board of directors voted unanimously to support the Canada Day rally, Menard said. Farmers with tractors will meet on Ottawa’s Innes Road in the city’s west-end at noon, Friday, June 30 and are considering a side trip to the Prime Minister’s house before heading to Parliament Hill.

Grassroots farmers who want to help with the rally have been asked to meet at Ottawa’s city hall on Elgin Street on July 1 at 9 a.m.