OTTAWA (Staff) – Debate about agriculture and rural policy has been largely absent during the NDP leadership race and Regina rookie MP John Solomon says that should surprise no one.
“I think you are premature to be asking about a specific agriculture policy,” the co-chair of Lorne Nystrom’s campaign said last week, regarding the Oct. 14 vote.
“The agriculture policy of the NDP is a dynamic thing. We have not sat down to write a treatise on agriculture. Lorne has been offering general principles and agriculture will fit into those.”
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Among policy commitments for full employment, pension reform, training and environmental activism contained in Nystrom’s “Dare to Win” campaign document, there is not a word about agriculture.
At leadership debates, when asked, he has pledged support for farmers and their marketing boards while criticizing the Liberals for “abandoning” farmers to market forces.
It is the same in the other leadership campaigns.
Alexa McDonough, in an interview from her Halifax campaign headquarters Oct. 5, said she does not have a detailed plan for updating the party’s agriculture policy.
Lots to learn
“A key part of leadership is admitting when you don’t have all the answers and with agriculture, I’m definitely on a learning curve,” she said.
However, she said the new NDP leader will have to lead an updating of party policy on agriculture.
Traditional positions in support of such subsidies as the Crow Benefit are irrelevant, now that it has been abolished by the Liberals. Similarly, a policy based on opposing free trade in part because of its impact on the farm community is no longer adequate, since the free trade deal is law.
How to provide support
New trade rules, along with limited government funds and a conservative environment, mean the party must re-examine how it believes the farm community can best be supported, she said.
“We cannot roll the clock back,” said McDonough. “We cannot resurrect old policies. I think it is clear that diversifying the agricultural economy is the only route to survival. The issue is how do you get there, what policies are needed to make agriculture sustainable?”
She said the party must be aggressive in criticizing the Liberal government for not making sufficient adjustment funds available to farmers who have lost traditional support programs.
Vancouver MP Svend Robinson also has been largely silent on agricultural issues.
At the Regina leadership candidates’ debate, he began an agricultural answer by conceding that he too is weak on the details.
He promised support for farmers, defence of the Canadian Wheat Board and support for co-ops and local community-based development.
Herschel Hardin has been arguing that despite trade agreements, governments can be active with policies #to support sectors like agriculture in the face of globalization.
He also has been vague on specifics.
