On the surface, the Ottawa agricultural policy scene seemed peaceful enough on June 1, 1980. A re-elected, largely urban Liberal majority government had taken office several months before with no rural support west of Ontario so there was little expectation that the recently convened Parliament would offer much fodder on the agricultural file.Re-invented prime minister Pierre Trudeau was focused on Quebec and the threat of separatism.Eugene Whelan was back as agriculture minister after a hiatus during the nine-month Joe Clark government but the Throne Speech had not offered a lot of agricultural promise.The Conservatives were grumpily back in opposition, expected to spend more time eating leader Joe Clark alive than in fighting Liberals. As now, the Conservatives largely owned rural Canada.Agriculture seemed to be a backwater file.That was the atmosphere 30 years ago, when The Western Producer established its bureau on Parliament Hill. Would there be enough to justify the expense of a national bureau?Almost immediately, it became clear that Ottawa was a diamond mine of hidden stories.The first week of coverage produced stories about: plans for drought relief for prairie farmers; talk about reform of the Crowsnest Pass freight rate subsidy; rail safety and possible breeders’ rights legislation.Behind the scenes, great things were brewing. Whelan was about to launch his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to establish a food exporting crown corporation, Canagrex.Transport minister Jean Luc Pepin had been convinced that the 83-year-old Crow rate had to be abolished. It became one of the Trudeau government’s three main preoccupations.Whelan was about to launch a campaign to try to create a national marketing board for livestock.And the era of large farm payouts was just around the corner, as was the decision, supported by Canada, to include agriculture in world trade talks for the first time.Then there were the Progressive Conservatives, demoralized by losing government after just nine months but ferocious in their opposition to what they saw as Trudeau’s and Whelan’s statist vision for agriculture.Did I mention that Whelan was locked in a battle with industry minister Ed Lumley to include agribusiness under the Agriculture Canada tent?There was lots to do and there hasn’t been a week in the past 30 years when that was not the case.Arriving in Ottawa, there were questions about whether there was enough agricultural content to justify a bureau. The reality was that the agricultural nuggets simply were not being mined by mainstream media.It has only become worse.In 1980, at least six reporters in the Parliamentary Press Gallery followed agricultural issues and attended the agriculture committee.Thirty years later, except for those days when there is a scandal or a food safety crisis, the roster of reporters is one, maybe two.In government and the press gallery, agriculture and food’s place have diminished.The issues have not.
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