In his first days on the job, agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief made an effort not to raise too many expectations.
“I’m going to take a look at everything but I don’t see any major changes,” he said moments after emerging into the sunlight from Government House, where he was sworn in June 11 as Canada’s 28th agriculture minister since Confederation.
He talked about helping the industry to diversify and adapt.
He made no promises to strengthen income safety nets, despite farm industry fears that they have been cut too much.
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“I’m making no statement other than that I’m open to having discussions on anything,” he said. “That does not mean anything will change or nothing will change.”
By June 13, he said safety nets and farmers’ “challenged margins” will be a priority. “But nobody is going to haul down the wall and have money spilling everywhere.”
He was equally cautious in early contacts with farm lobby groups in the days after his appointment.
One of the 53-year-old rookie minister’s first trips outside the department came June 12 when he dropped in at an executive meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
He was told about CFA nervousness over the government’s stance in the next round of world trade talks.
But CFA president Jack Wilkinson acknowledged that Vanclief has been involved in past trade issues, including playing a role to convey farmer unease to trade negotiators during the tense final days of trade talks in Geneva in late 1993.
And he understands the trade sensitivities of supply management and orderly marketing supporters, since as parliamentary secretary in 1994, he headed a government task force on the evolution of supply management.
“He knows his way around these issues,” said Wilkinson. “There won’t be a steep learning curve.”
A measure of the man
Those trying to get a measure of Lyle Vanclief have noted a couple of early signs that he will be an activist in some areas.
- The day he was appointed to the ministry, he put new health minister Allan Rock on notice that he wants to talk about the Pest Management Regulatory Agency this summer. Rock is the minister responsible for the agency that has come to symbolize the pain of cost recovery for many farm groups.
“Mr. Rock said he will be open to a discussion,” said Vanclief, who worked behind the scenes in the last Parliament to make sure former health minister David Dingwall got the message that the agency’s cost-recovery proposals were causing problems for rural MPs.
- He stressed the rural development part of his portfolio. Vanclief said the prime minister gave him rural issues as part of his mandate.
The Liberal commitment during the election campaign was to make sure rural Canadians have the same opportunities and access to services as do urban Canadians. “There are challenges in rural Canada and we want to try to meet those,” Vanclief told a June 13 news conference.
