Canadians will elect a new national government June 2 and for rural prairie voters, the stakes are high.
As politicians traipse across the land, dishing out promises, farmers will be hearing differing visions on key issues ranging from the Canadian Wheat Board and grain transportation problems to user fees and rural Canada’s influence in Ottawa.
For Alex Graham, Alberta Wheat Pool president, the job of the next Parliament will be to complete some unfinished business.
Reforms to the transportation system and the marketing system already have been outlined and moves have started to strengthen the rural economy, he said April 28.
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“If any one party comes out and continues to attack the marketing structure, there is a question of what could be gained other than fracturing the countryside,” he said. “A plan has been laid out. The more people we have to see the same vision and get on with it, the better off we’ll be.”
For Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson, the next five weeks should produce a competition of ideas for farmers to judge. At least he hopes it does.
“For this go-around, the biggest hurdle may be to get anything substantial for farmers in political platforms.”
CFA will be sending its members questions to be used to pin down visiting candidates on issues including safety net spending, cost recovery and orderly marketing.
The election call, more than a year before the Liberal mandate was to expire, had some immediate impacts for rural Canada.
Legislation died that would have reformed the wheat board, given grain exports some protection from third-party labor disruptions on the west coast and strengthened endangered species laws.
Wheat board reform, supposed to start Aug. 1, has been put off at least a year.
Fewer seats available
The 36th Parliament to be elected June 2 also will offer rural Canadians the smallest voice they have had. The number of House of Commons seats is increasing by six to 301 but the number of seats with significant rural populations has fallen below one-third.
When he started the campaign, prime minister Jean ChrŽtien said he wanted to give Canadians a chance to judge Liberal deficit-cutting successes and to re-elect a party that will use its increased disposable income to help maintain national programs.
He said tax cuts offered by Reform and Progressive Conservatives would jeopardize the gains made in three years of cutting.
Reform leader Preston Manning, launching his campaign in vote-rich southern Ontario where he needs a breakthrough, saw the choice instead as one between big government and smaller government.
“This is Canada’s last election before the end of the century,” he said. “If there ever was a time to rethink your political home, it is now.”
