EDMONTON – When Charlie Penson was promoted as Canadian Alliance’s
finance critic April 4, he joked about how farming had helped qualify
him for the job.
“Anyone that can operate a grain farm in these last few years certainly
must have something to bring to the job,” he said to guffaws from
delegates at the Alliance biennial policy convention.
Later in an interview, he said he was only half joking.
“Farming is a business and these past few years have been tough, as we
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all know,” said the 59-year-old MP from Peace River, Alta.
“As finance critic, it will be my job to make sure the government uses
our money wisely, is fiscally responsible. Those are lessons farmers
learn every year when they do their books.”
But Penson also will have the experience of being a businessperson in
an industry plagued by a dysfunctional market. As a farmer, he has had
to take advantage of government programs to keep the operation afloat.
“I think the federal government has an obligation to try to help
farmers deal with some of the barriers and problems that face them,” he
said.
He said that includes properly funding safety net programs, trying to
negotiate subsidies out of international markets, and removing
regulations from the domestic economy that cost farmers money or limit
their choices.
Penson strongly supports the party call for a deregulated grain
transportation system and an end to the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.
“I do agree that our treasury cannot take on the U.S. and European
treasuries dollar for dollar, even though it has an obligation to do
what it can,” he said.
“But it also can help by getting rid of those regulations that restrict
farmer choices as they try to help themselves.”
It is a philosophy Penson learned while helping to run a 2,000-acre
family grain, oilseed and grass farm in northwestern Alberta. He is
still involved and said he works on the farm when he can.
Penson was elected to Parliament with the first wave of Reform MPs in
1993 and during the eight years since, has served as party trade critic
and industry critic in the House of Commons.
He was given the prized finance critic job by new leader Stephen Harper
as part of the new “shadow cabinet” unveiled at the beginning of the
party policy conference in Edmonton.
Penson had organized for Harper in the leadership race against former
party chief Stockwell Day. He said he asked for the finance job,
replacing Day supporter Jason Kenney.
Harper kept Manitoba MP Howard Hilstrom as agriculture critic in the
shadow cabinet and Saskatchewan MP David Anderson as wheat board critic.
British Columbia MP John Duncan is the new international trade critic
who will be expected to pursue trade minister Pierre Pettigrew on soft
wood lumber, agricultural trade spats and Canada’s stance in World
Trade Organization negotiations.
