The Bloc QuŽbecois will not repeat its near sweep of Quebec rural seats in this election, the president of Quebec’s farm lobby predicted Monday.
Laurent Pellerin, president of l’Union des Producteurs Agricoles, said he expects the BQ to falter somewhat from the 54 seats it won in 1993. Included in that total were most rural seats.
“I do think it will be a bit different this time, not necessarily because the Liberals have a better program but because the Bloc QuŽbecois are going back a bit,” he said May 5. “I don’t know who will pick up that vote, the Conservatives or other parties, but I do think there will be a change.”
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However, the leader of Quebec’s English-speaking farmers’ lobby said he still expects the BQ to win most rural seats.
Chris Judd, president of the Quebec Farmers’ Alliance, noted that most rural areas supported Quebec independence during the 1995 referendum. That support should translate into support for the separatist BQ.
“I would think a lot of rural seats will go BQ,” he said.
According to Pellerin, Quebec farmers will be asking politicians for answers on several key issues.
“We will be asking the Liberals and other parties to make sure that supply management remains a tool that the government supports,” he said. “We will want to be sure they continue to develop export strategies for our products. And we think they should do more on income security.”
He said the Liberals have cut too much money from farm safety nets.
The reduction in federal safety net funding to $600 million is not adequate. “If there are bad prices in the grain industry, for example, we will need billions, not 600 million. The next government needs to understand that when prices get bad, and they will, they will have to act.”
Pellerin said the next government also should work hard to make sure Quebec signs the national safety net agreement that will give Quebec farmers access to the Net Income Stabilization Account program.
Quebec and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces not to sign the national safety nets deal worked out last summer.
“We want to be sure the NISA formula applies to all provinces so that we can get our fair share,” said the UPA president.
Judd, a west Quebec dairy farmer, predicted concerns about federal cuts in environmental funding and research also will be an issue for some farmers.
“I have travelled in the States and when I see their research and the money spent there on new technology, I really think we are falling behind,” he said.
The BQ is basing its rural campaign in part on complaints that Quebec has not been getting its fair share of federal agricultural dollars.
Neither Pellerin nor Judd suggested that has had a major impact yet with most farmers.
