Bob Speller stepped out of Government House Dec. 12 as Canada’s 29th agriculture minister with a message for Canada’s farmers.
He’s from the government of Canada and he wants to listen.
While he did not have any program ideas to unveil or policy shifts to announce, the new minister clearly wanted to change the farmer perception that Agriculture Canada has not been heeding farmer advice about appropriate program design.
“My first priority will be to talk to farmers and farm leaders about where they see the government of Canada can play its role in the future of agriculture in this country,” Speller said.
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“I will be making sure I consult closely with farmers across this country to see where exactly they want the government to go.”
He signalled that he will be ready to change the agricultural policy framework if that’s what farmers want.
“I think within the farm community there are some concerns about the direction,” he said moments after being sworn in as minister. “What I will be doing is consult with these groups to see how we can fit in their concerns.”
He confirmed support for supply management as a bedrock Liberal policy.
Speller was named minister in a cabinet revamping by new prime minister Paul Martin. Lyle Vanclief, agriculture minister for more than six years, was dropped from cabinet and said he decided in September not to contest the next election.
It was a cabinet shuffle that saw Regina MP Ralph Goodale become finance minister, Winnipeg MP Reg Alcock become minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board and southern Ontario MP Tony Valeri became transport minister.
“These ministers are raring to go,” Martin said Dec. 13 at the end of his first cabinet meeting.
Speller is a 15-year MP who represents a rural southern Ontario riding. Before elected politics, he worked for politicians in Ottawa and Toronto and was briefly in the Ontario government.
He chaired the prime minister’s task force on agriculture in 2002 that recommended the government develop policies in collaboration with farmers.
In his covering letter, Speller said farmer unhappiness with federal policy proposals and a farmer feeling of not being consulted “risk seriously harming our relationship with the agriculture and agrifood industry.”
Martin, campaigning for the Liberal leadership in summer 2003, endorsed Speller’s report and promised a change.
“Governments must stand prepared to listen and to act in constructive partnerships with primary producers and others to build a stronger, less vulnerable and more profitable rural economy,” he wrote to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
Speller’s appointment was applauded by many farm groups and politicians who often had been at odds with Vanclief and his program designs.
“He’s a very down-to-earth individual,” said Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Terry Hildebrandt.
“You can sit down with the man and talk to him one on one and he’s always had an open door any time we’ve gone to Ottawa.”
“I think Mr. Speller is going to be a good minister,” added Ontario egg producer and Canadian Egg Marketing Agency chair Laurent Souligny.
“I think he knows agriculture very well.”
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Clay Serby was quick off the mark, sending Speller a letter of congratulations and a list of changes he wants in the agricultural policy framework.
