In a pointed, partisan and increasingly common attack last week, a Canadian Alliance MP questioned if agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief is up to the job.
“There is a serious lack in the faith that farmers have in your leadership and you have to address that,” Alliance agriculture critic Howard Hilstrom told Vanclief when he appeared May 1 before the House of Commons agriculture committee to describe his idea of future agriculture policy.
“Before we can start talking about the future, we’ve got to look and see if you’re the fellow that’s going to lead us into that future or not.”
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Hilstrom outlined a number of issues that he considered Vanclief failures – too little farm aid, a poor relationship with the Americans, some ill-chosen words about the Prince Edward Island potato issue and a series of poorly designed and much criticized farm aid programs.
The Manitoba MP said farmers from east to west are questioning Vanclief’s commitment and competence.
“I’d like you to clarify right here that in fact somehow you are the man to lead this agriculture community in the future.”
Vanclief began his response with some ironic humor: “Thank you very much, Mr. Hilstrom, for the vote of confidence.”
But then he avoided the broader question of his standing as agriculture minister and talked instead about the details of some of the points raised by Hilstrom and how the government has responded well.
The Hilstrom attack, unusual in its personal nature, was the latest in a series of questions about Vanclief’s stewardship. A cabinet shuffle is expected in the summer and Ottawa newspapers have speculated that Vanclief may be dropped or shuffled.
It has not been a good winter for the former farmer from the Belleville, Ont., area who has been a member of Parliament since 1988, chair of the agriculture committee, parliamentary secretary to the agriculture minister and then minister since 1997.
A recent low point occurred when it became clear he should have been at the Quebec City summit of the Americas to meet with American agriculture secretary Ann Veneman, but was not included in the Canadian delegation. When it became clear he was needed, he could not get into Quebec City because of security. He took part in a meeting by telephone April 21.
Opposition MPs pounced on this as an example of Vanclief stepping into another public relations cow patty.
They ridiculed him over what they saw as his weak position in government and the government’s low regard for agriculture.
Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic Monte Solberg saw it as a broader problem of government priorities.
“The Americans thought agriculture was an important enough issue to warrant the presence of their agriculture secretary at the summit of the Americas,” he said in the House of Commons.
“It was probably a good opportunity for our agriculture minister to spend some time bending her ears to make our position clear. Why was he not there?”
Vanclief insisted he was just as effective on the telephone as he would have been physically at the meeting.
He even raised a cost-saving defence.
“We had a very successful meeting over the telephone,” he said. “I did not have to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to be there for a meeting.”
In later interviews, two agriculture critics who regularly watch Vanclief said the explanations were lame and even embarrassing for the minister.
“It’s disheartening that the government has such a low view of agriculture that they didn’t think to bring the ag minister as part of the delegation,” said Alliance critic Hilstrom.
“But I also think it is a reflection of their view of Vanclief. They must think he doesn’t have much to contribute.”
New Democrat Dick Proctor saw it as the latest Vanclief gaffe in a year that has seen farmers protesting the minister’s performance on farm aid and the potato ban.
“He’s a bit like Stockwell Day,” said Proctor. “Every time he turns a corner, he walks into another wall. But this one must be humiliating.”
Both said they think Vanclief could be replaced if a summer cabinet shuffle takes place.
