When more than 1,000 farmer petitions against the April 1 implementation of new farm safety net programs poured into Parliament Hill computers March 15-17, farm organizers saw it as a powerful popular symbol of producer frustration.
When the e-mail onslaught crashed computers across the Hill, organizers sounded pleased and triumphant about the impact of their message about the agricultural policy framework.
“Seems strange that they can allocate $15 million on APF advertising and so-called consultation process, yet design such a poor e-mail handling system,” said Huron County, Ont., farmer Wayne Hamilton, who helped write and organize the petition campaign.
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Fellow organizer Henry Damsma received an e-mail about the computer crash from British Columbia Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Strahl.
“I am one of the originators of the electronic petition and do not in any way apologize for the disruption and shutting down the House of Commons e-mail system,” Damsma responded. He said the Huron County federation could help upgrade the government computer system.
Their MP, Liberal Paul Steckle, said those messages and that tactic may not have helped the farmer cause among politicians, many of whom are inclined to be sympathetic.
Steckle, the chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee, said it would have caught MP attention, but “they didn’t do themselves any favours in Ottawa.”
When MPs find their communication system closed down, they are not pleased.
Still, he said the farmers will see any future government flexibility on the APF as a result of their effort. “They will take credit for what happens and that’s fine. If they feel good about it, I’m prepared to give them the credit for it.”
In the office of Ontario Liberal Bob Speller, chair of the prime minister’s task force on agriculture and a supporter of the call for an implementation delay, the reaction was much the same.
“They may have gotten some attention on Parliament Hill (with the e-mails),” said Speller aide Linda Clifford. “They did not win too many friends.”
