Now that he is seeking a Liberal nomination for the next federal election, Bob Friesen’s ability to stay as president of Canada’s largest farm lobby will be up for debate when Canadian Federation of Agriculture directors meet this week in Ottawa.
“It’s a discussion we have to have, whether this affects the ability of the CFA to speak for farmers,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett.
“If political parties we have to deal with are saying this hurts our access or credibility, then we have to deal with it.”
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Political parties other than the Liberals are saying exactly that.
On Dec. 10, the CFA president announced he is seeking the Liberal party nomination in the Brandon-Souris riding where the Manitoba hog and turkey farmer lives.
Farm leaders from several provinces said last week it does not hurt the CFA and they have no problem with Friesen’s Liberal activity, at least until and if he is chosen as a Liberal election candidate. The nomination meeting date has not been set and may not be for several months.
“I think Bob can still do a good job for the CFA as a leader but we’d have to look at it again if he becomes a candidate,” said Keystone Agriculture Producers president Weldon Newton. “For now, I have no problem with it.”
Opposition MPs were not as understanding.
Agriculture critics from opposition parties were unanimous last week in saying that Friesen has lost his credibility as a farm representative and should step aside.
For more than four years, he has been a high-profile farm lobbyist and oft-critic of the federal Liberal government as president of the country’s largest farm lobby.
But by declaring his hope of running for the Liberal party, he has compromised his ability to be able to speak for farmers, they argued.
“I think he has to step aside,” Canadian Alliance agriculture critic Gerry Ritz said in a Dec. 11 interview from his Saskatchewan constituency. “From a political point of view, I will have to discount what he says and what the CFA says now that I know he is a Liberal partisan.”
Saskatchewan New Democrat Dick Proctor said he has kept his door open to the CFA as a voice of farmers, “but the door will be less open to Bob now that I know he has Liberal ties.”
Terry Hildebrandt, president of Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said CFA board members knew in advance of Friesen’s political ambitions and decided he could remain president until the next election campaign starts and then “he would have to take a leave of absence.”
Friesen also is co-chair of the national safety nets advisory committee to the federal Liberal agriculture minister.
On Dec. 12, safety nets committee member and Grain Growers of Canada president Ken Bee of Ontario said Friesen’s partisan announcement should not affect his ability to be committee co-chair, at least until he becomes a candidate.
