SIMCOE, Ont. – On a sunny March morning, Burford, Ont., tobacco farmer Charlie Van Besien stood with other producers outside MP Diane Finley’s constituency office demanding a buyout for tobacco farmers.
The 67-year-old is not planting a crop this year for the first time in 40 years. His son Michael is leaving the farm to look for work.
“He wanted to farm and he can’t,” Van Besien said. “That farm was my retirement pension. It’s not worth anything. If Diane doesn’t come through, it will hurt her.”
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He is part of a lobby by Ontario’s 600 active tobacco farmers and 1,500 quota holders to convince federal and provincial governments to organize a $1 billion buyout, ending 70 years of lucrative tobacco production in a sandy arc of land that stretches from south of Woodstock to Lake Erie. They have organized weeks of protests.
At its peak, the industry produced more than $300 million in farmgate receipts and more than $1 billion in benefits to communities throughout this patch of south-central Ontario.
Now, a combination of government anti-smoking campaigns, high taxes, cheap imports and smuggling has made the industry unsustainable.
“It is absolutely critical that government recognize it is responsible for this and develop an exit strategy,” said Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board president Fred Neukamm.
He is looking to this week’s federal and Ontario budgets for a signal that an exit buyout package is in the works. The board has suggested that the money come from government taxes on tobacco products.
Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl has said the tobacco farmers are asking for too much.
Ontario minister Leona Dombrowsky said governments have spent close to $200 million over the years to help tobacco farmers prepare for the day when their product and their industry would no longer be viable. Producers have some responsibility for not preparing for the inevitable.
“As a member of government, I don’t accept 100 percent responsibility,” Dombrowsky said.
Meanwhile, back at the Simcoe demonstration, Van Besien said the industry is looking for government leadership.
“We cannot get financial support for another crop without assurance of an exit strategy.”
Most of the cars driving past on Highway 3 honked in support until one driver shouted: “Get a job.”
Van Besien laughed and added, “If only he knew how many jobs we have created.”
