FRANCIS, Sask. – The talk of this town is not the federal election.
People here would rather discuss the weather.
Winter blasted the southeastern part of the Regina-Wascana constituency the day after Halloween, knocking out power and turning roads into skating rinks.
It has made campaigning difficult for the candidates and kept the voters’ attention on shoveling snow.
At the United Grain Growers elevator, staff said few people have even mentioned the campaign. When they do, they talk about the Canadian Alliance plan to cut taxes.
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At Sedley Country Convenience several kilometres west, the story is similar. Few are talking about it, but those who are, say incumbent Liberal MP and cabinet minister Ralph Goodale won’t win a third consecutive term Nov. 27.
Farmers in the area who don’t support the Canadian Wheat Board think Goodale, as the board minister, did not make enough changes to its mandate.
On the other hand, if the Liberals promise more farm support, he might come out ahead.
Since rural voters account for only seven percent of the constituency’s electorate, farmers are wondering how much their votes will matter anyway.
Goodale said the number of voters might be small, but the issues affecting them are not.
Understands frustrations
He said he too is frustrated by the delays in getting Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance claims processed and payments made.
He recognizes the need for more money, and points to increases in farm safety net funding made by the Liberal government since 1997. But he cannot promise more.
“I’m not in a position to do that, but there is a trend there.”
Goodale sees this election as a battle between himself and Canadian Alliance candidate James Rybchuk. He said support for the New Democratic Party, whose candidate placed second in 1997, is waning as the campaign progresses.
“There would appear to be a very significant number of voters that are moderate middle-of-the-road people … who in this election are saying in Wascana there really is no practical sense to (voting that way) and are extending their support to my side,” Goodale said.
Garth Ormiston, the NDP candidate, disagrees.
He said Goodale and Rybchuk are speaking from the same page: neither has pledged more farm income support.
He said people are still angry that Goodale and the Liberals eliminated the Crow freight subsidy, and they needed more from him during the farm income crisis.
“He was nowhere around,” Ormiston said. “We’re still in crisis because the government didn’t do enough.”
Ormiston, a trade unionist who grew up in the small town of Craven, Sask., where his father was the elevator agent, said the NDP promise of doubling federal funding for safety nets shows the party’s commitment to all Canadians.
“We’ve got a platform that works for everyone’s issue,” he said.
Ormiston and Rybchuk agree on one thing, and that’s their opinion of the Liberal record.
Rybchuk, a lawyer, said the Liberals have failed farmers because the farm crisis is worse every year.
“We’ve got to get cash to farmers quickly,” he said.
Rybchuk, whose family still farms, said farmers are caught in a price war beyond their control. He said Liberal promises to work to cut European and American subsidies don’t go far enough.
He said it would help if Canada put the wheat board on the table.
“Why aren’t we doing that?”
Rybchuk said the CA promise of broad-based tax relief will help farmers, as will plans to cut the GST on fuel and to end the wheat board’s monopoly on wheat and barley exports.
The fourth candidate is Wayne Gilmer of the Canadian Action Party.
