New minister must act now on ag file

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Published: August 23, 2007

Gerry Ritz, sworn in last week as Canada’s 32nd federal agriculture minister and the fifth in less than four years, has some key decisions to make within days.

By the end of August, he will decide whether to appeal a July 31 court decision that shut down the government attempt to end the Canadian Wheat Board barley monopoly through regulatory fiat rather than legislative amendment.

Before then, he must decide whether to suggest to provincial agriculture ministers that they postpone a tentatively scheduled early September federal-provincial ministers’ meeting to continue contentious negotiations over the next generation of farm programs.

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The meeting likely will be postponed.

“There’s no doubt there are a lot of files that need attention,” the former Rosetown, Sask., area farmer and 10-year veteran MP said Aug. 20. “That’s one of the reasons I’m excited about this. There are a lot of initiatives I want to tackle.”

Some of them were inherited from outgoing minister Chuck Strahl, who was moved to Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the Aug. 14 cabinet shuffle that elevated Ritz.

Unless there is an extension or a replacement programs under the existing agricultural policy framework expire March 31, 2008. Federal-provincial negotiations over cost sharing and program design became nasty when ministers last met at the end of June in Whistler, B.C., even if they say they had reached agreement-in-principle on the broad design.

Pressure is growing for a major revamp of the Canada Grain Act to reform the operations of the Canadian Grain Commission. Ritz was chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee when it issued a unanimous report calling for change.

Strahl had been expected to introduce legislation in the autumn.

And there are the usual array of industry issues: rising grain prices that make grain producers and their suppliers smile while livestock producers watch margins tighten; World Trade Organization talks and supply management fears of reduced protection; continued trade restrictions from BSE; and complaints about the cost of government regulations.

Ritz wants to add some of his own smaller issues to the pile – ensuring that strychnine is available to farmers with a gopher problem, watching rail service and freight rates on the Prairies and making sure new regulations are farmer friendly.

“My goal is to start looking at everything from the perspective of the farmgate,” he said. “No matter what happens, the costs seem to end up in the farmer’s mailbox. We have to remember that when making rules and policies.”

The arrival of the joke-cracking, fast-talking former grain and ostrich producer in the 9th floor corner office of Agriculture Canada head offices received a generally warm reception from industry.

While offering praise for Strahl, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen issued a statement praising Ritz also, saying, “he knows the issues and will do a great job.” Friesen and Ritz talked last weekend.

Anti-wheat board monopoly lobbies including the Western Canadian Wheat Growers’ Association and Grain Growers of Canada saw Ritz as an ally and called on him to keep up the pressure despite this summer’s legal setback.

Alberta cattle producer and Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Hugh Lynch-Staunton welcomed the appointment and the government’s continued vow to end the CWB monopoly. He said the industry will press Ritz to provide $50 million in transitional funding to help pay for the costs of removing risky material from the feed chain and to recognize the hurt that the government’s support for biofuel is causing cattle feeders.

However, reaction was not unanimous in praise.

Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter predicted Ritz will be nothing more than a “puppet” for prime minister Stephen Harper’s agriculture agenda.

The National Farmers Union said Ritz has an anti-farmer parliamentary record but they would try to work with him.

Saskatchewan government ministers, at war with the province’s Conservative MPs over equalization payments, were critical of Ritz even as Nova Scotia agriculture minister Brooke Taylor said Aug. 15 that Ritz would be welcomed by provincial ministers as “someone who knows the files.”

Ritz was unfazed by the criticism.

“I’m a known commodity to most players from my time as committee chair and as an MP,” said the minister. “Perhaps I’m too well known by the NFU and the NDP here in Saskatchewan. They don’t seem to like what they know, which is fine.”

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