OFA wasn't tough enough for Wilkinson

With Paul Martin now ensconced at Ottawa’s helm, farmers may expect a firm hand on the way their industry is run, unless they decide on their own future. Over the past decade they and their leaders have drifted, leaving many decisions to appointed bureaucrats and political leaders.

Fortunately, Quebec agriculture insisted on its own blueprint. Fortunately, because the brouhaha over mad cow disease could have taken a disastrous turn, with our politicos wringing their hands frantically. However, gun shots and dead cattle were enough to trigger a near-immediate change from a supposedly destitute government.

This state of affairs cannot continue with a promise of strong, comprehensive leadership lying ahead. English-speaking farm families must find more courage when tackling rough farm issues. They no longer can seek compromises when taking an unpopular stand. True, perhaps a majority of the public may shrink from firmness but does this make resolution wrong?

Do large corporations or industrial unions shy from probes into their activities? This is where their chief executives play a fundamental role. Either they make a good case for higher prices or improved labor wages or they start looking for another job. Can this be said of farm organization leaders? A recent tough president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), Mr. Jack Wilkinson, found he had only limited backing from his executive. Several, according to reports, almost hungered for a "deal" or "saw-off" when the outlook seemed decidedly uncomfortable.

Thus Ontario’s rural community was not properly served. And it still is not served. Mr. Wilkinson moved into world affairs and is now president of the Rome-based International Federation of Agricultural Producers. Sure, the voices of absurdity may nod their heads profoundly, contending he now serves our farmers more effectively, but this is only nonsense.

He was needed in Ontario and in Canada as a whole, just as any future tough leader will be needed should Prime Minister Martin appoint a tenacious new agricultural minister such as Mr. Paul Steckle from southwestern Ontario.

Mr. Steckle is not given to small talk and he seeks well-planned objectives. He is practical when it comes to resolving quirks in farm programs, a quality that comes from running an efficient beef enterprise. Moreover, while he agrees with President Bush on the mad cow uproar, believing some animals should be excluded from export, he seeks an immediate answer to handling animals that escape the central pot. Listening to bureaucratic whinings is not part of his credo. He gives instructions and then expects rapid answers.

Canada’s farm leaders must accept the climate set by Mr.Martin; a climate yearned for by most rural families. Further, their presentations must be well prepared and open to free discussions with elected MPs, not appointed officials who have played too much of a role in recent years. If we are to believe the new Prime Minister’s pledges, then the moment has arrived for firm rural responses.