Delegates praised for rolling over

Where do farmers stand on Otta wa's proposed national farm policy? First, most existing programs would be rolled into one program. Second, farmers would not reap any benefits unless they leap on food safety, environmental and management chariots. Third, still unspoken is the timetable, certainly it's nowhere in the near future.
So agriculture's current financial crisis stays unanswered. Moreover, Lyle Vanclief's goblins omitted the world trade mishaps. Was it deliberate? This, surely, must be answered before long-term, 10-year programs are shaped. On the other hand it must be asked whether farmers themselves, through their organizations, have mapped their needs in no uncertain terms.

Or perhaps they choose to roll over like a lethargic fireside dog rather than tell politicians what must be done if Canadian farming is to survive. Tragically, this likely was the case when CFA president Friesen praised Ontario provincial delegates last November after they defeated a move that harshly criticized Ottawa.

Apparently, farmers must not upset their political masters or harp on U.S. and EC trade subsidies. Rather, by acting like Boy Scouts "[they] left the door open for your executive and your president to continue to meet with the agriculture minister of Canada." Any money coming?

What moral cowardice. Do our grassroots truly believe that Vanclief would refuse to see them if elected leaders bared their teeth? Today, when our farm spokesmen have an "audience" with the Great One, likely with caps in hand, they achieve little more than mournful sympathy.

Apparently, matching American or European farm aid, on a per capita basis, is out of the question. The treasury has no money. If so, why are the Feds setting up a series of multi-billion dollar pork-barrel foundations? And there's $260 million for Toronto's art scene. Perhaps it's rude to offer helpful advice in this area.

Farm leadership may carry much of the blame but the rank and file seems to drift along with little complaint, unlike their forebears in the Sixties. Older farmers must recall the confrontation with politicians at Queen's Park and Ottawa when the so-called industrial milk sank to $4.50 a hectolitre ($2 a hundredweight) on a take-it or leave-it basis.

Protesting farmers pushed into Ontario's Legislature, jumped up and down in louder and louder drum beats, refusing to accept Premier John Robart's plea that there was no money left in the treasury for government help.

They got fast action, while Prime Minister Lester Pearson responded in near panic. Former OFA president Gordon Hill notes there was a quick readjustment of spending priorities by both governments. "Farmers meant business and the politicians finally realized it." Today, it must be asked if local farm leaders share their parents' doughtiness. At the top they have in Jack Wilkinson, a tough standard-bearer, but he cannot advance too far ahead of his members unless the buttressing is there.