GUELPH, Ont. – Liberal candidate and one-term Guelph MP Frank Valeriote always mentions food and agriculture when he makes his pitch to his very urban voters
“I always raise food issues,” the House of Commons agriculture committee member said.
“What I raise is this – the Liberals have a national food policy to support farmers, promote healthy eating and support food security and buying local.”
He said it resonates, but not because Guelph has a robust agricultural research presence at the University of Guelph, the Ontario agriculture ministry’s head office and the head offices of Ontario farm organizations.
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It resonates because urban Guelph understands the importance of agriculture to the province, the city and them.
“I raise the issues because there is a real consciousness that lives in the people of Guelph,” he said.
“They really live by the view that farmers feed cities. They get it.”
That has been a successful campaign slogan for Ontario farm groups and it makes Ontario, the most urbanized province, an interesting election case.
While immigration, industry and urban issues are key election battlegrounds, there is a food and agriculture undercurrent that is revealed in many urban political campaigns.
“I always note the fact that 3,600 farms close each year in Canada and that really strikes people,” said Valeriote.
“I really do think that food and where it comes from has become a much bigger issue in urban Ontario.”
In many ways, he is an odd exponent of agriculture.
A descendent of Italian immigrants who made their home in Guelph, he is an urban lawyer with no direct rural Canadian connection.
Surprisingly, after being elected in 2008, the Liberal party assigned him to the Commons agriculture committee.
“I did not ask for it, but they saw me coming from Guelph with a great university agriculture community,” he said.
“I have used that position to promote research, but my learning curve has been steep. Now I am hooked. If I get re-elected, I want back on the committee.”
Valeriote has earned respect on the committee for his largely non-partisan and well-researched questions.
He was co-sponsor, with Saskatchewan Conservative Randy Hoback, of the committee hearings on biotechnology and recently hosted a Guelph meeting on the pros and cons of genetically modified organisms that drew 300 people.
“We had both sides and a fantastic debate,” he said.
“I keep telling the biotech companies they have to be more open, demystify what they do. And urban people need to understand this better and not just see stereotypes.”
“If I get re-elected” is a key consideration for 56-year-old Valeriote.
Guelph has been a riding that swings with the party that wins, and last time, as a first-time Liberal replacing a longtime Liberal MP, he won by 1,800 votes but defied the tradition of swinging with the winner.
The Conservatives have targeted the riding as vulnerable, pouring money, cabinet ministers, the prime minister and workers into the fight.
The election timing may also work against the incumbent.
In 2008, the University of Guelph was in a school year and students voted against the Conservatives.
This election, May 3, the Guelph students will be finished exams and back in their home ridings.
“That certainly is one of my challenges,” he said.
