BIGGAR, Sask. – For a while, it looked like candidates and observers might outnumber farmers at a Canadian Wheat Board candidates’ forum here last week.
At the official starting time of 7 p.m., there were three candidates, a facilitator, a reporter and a consultant milling about in the Biggar Community Hall, along with two farmers.
A few more producers straggled in over the next half hour, bringing the total to 11 by the time the meeting got under way.
The result was a sea of empty orange chairs, 100 or so unused pens and question forms and more than enough coffee and doughnuts to go around.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The story was much the same at the three other candidates meetings organized by election co-ordinator Meyers Norris Penny last week, with seven showing up at the District 6 meeting in Prince Albert, Sask., about 30 attending at the District 8 meeting in Regina and about 20 at the District 2 meeting in Portage la Prairie, Man.
Candidates and farmers alike were left scratching their heads for an explanation.
“I’m at a loss,” said farmer Stewart St. John, who flew in with two friends from Eston, Sask., to attend the Biggar meeting.
Farmers received their ballots just the week before, he said, so maybe they haven’t started thinking about the election yet.
Biggar area farmer Rob Danychuk said the meeting wasn’t well advertised locally, and he only heard about it when a friend from Saskatoon phoned to ask if he was going.
“I talked to lots of guys around here during the week and nobody mentioned it,” he said.
District 4 candidate Rick Strankman, who made the nearly two-hour drive from Altario, Alta., said he was disappointed by the turnout.
“I think there’s a lot of apathy out there,” he said, although he added he has received more calls and e-mails from farmers than when he ran four years ago. “Whether that will translate into more votes, it’s hard to call.”
CWB chair Ken Ritter said it’s difficult to draw any particular message from the low attendance.
It might be apathy, it might be that farmers are satisfied with the job the board is doing, it might be that the debate over single desk marketing is less passionate that in the past, or it might be that farmers in the area had more important things to do that night.
It’s also not clear how useful candidate meetings are given the nature of the CWB elections.
“I think we’re struggling to find what is the best way we can engage with farmers in a democratic way in a district that spans a six-hour drive,” Ritter said.
Candidate Tom Jackson of Killam, Alta., who combined his trip to the meeting with hauling a load of canola to Nipawin, Sask., had another explanation.
He said the low turnout indicates that farmers don’t trust the wheat board election process.
“Frankly I’m not surprised,” he said. “It’s a CWB engineered meeting and I think there’s really a whole lot of cynicism about the whole process when the CWB gets involved.”
Despite the low turnout, the Biggar meeting went on for two hours as the audience members submitted about a dozen questions.
The wide range of subjects, included cash advances, the World Trade Organization, the future of government guarantees of CWB finances, the voters list, whether a dual market would work and the future of containerized shipping.
“I think they exposed a lot of issues we need to deal with, so it was very constructive,” said Jackson.
Whether the meeting had any impact on the voting intentions of the 11 producers in attendance is harder to judge.
Danychuk, who said at the start of the meeting that he had an open mind and hadn’t yet decided who to vote for, said he was closer to a decision but not ready to commit.
“I’m going to think about it a bit more, maybe talk to some other guys before I vote,” he said.
But while Danychuk may not have decided whom to vote for, he said there’s not much doubt about what the outcome in District 4 will be.
“Ken Ritter is going to get re-elected here,” he said. “The incumbent always wins when there’s apathy.”
