As the man in the eye of the farm protest hurricane that has been rolling through Ontario this winter and spring, Ron Bonnett seemed calm, almost cheerful, as he made his way through the day that brought the largest farm rally of the year to Parliament Hill.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture president was sleep-deprived, having spent the previous day lobbying in Ottawa, flying back to Toronto in the late afternoon to meet senior Ontario government ministers and then flying back to Ottawa on a midnight flight so he could meet some of the protesters for breakfast at 7 a.m.
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And he was in the uncomfortable position of being a bit of a target for the protesters himself.
Some Ontario farmers have been critical of their leaders for not getting more from governments. There have been threatening telephone calls.
Yet here he was, heading down Wellington Street at 7:45 a.m. April 5 for a meeting with federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl that ended up involving prime minister Stephen Harper as well, and he was sounding positive.
“You just have to believe that they will hear the message,” said Bonnett. “We have the numbers. The minister encouraged us to make our case and to show that farmers support us. The evidence will be before them today.”
Yet the lobby leader also conceded that more than the government’s credibility was on the line. For weeks, Ontario farmers had been rallying at agriculture department offices across the province, circling the Ontario legislature building with tractors in Toronto and slowing down traffic on Ontario’s major highways.
Increasingly, some of the more militant were seeing their farm leaders as part of the problem.
“People are frustrated and I understand that,” said Bonnett, a cow-calf operator from the Algoma region of northern Ontario.
“They expect us to deliver the goods. Their frustration takes different forms and I don’t take it personally but I have had some threats.”
It has been the toughest of Bonnett’s years as OFA president and he speculates that Ontario farmers have become the most militant in the country because of where they live. The provincial economy is booming and farmers feel themselves slipping behind their neighbours and the rest of society.
“The contrast between how farmers are doing and how their neighbours are doing is graphic, is in the faces,” he said. “I just hope politicians realize they have to deliver.”
On this day, it was not to be.
Strahl and Harper said money is coming but not until a budget is delivered and approved in a month or so.
After the meeting in Strahl’s office, Bonnett was on Parliament Hill pleading the urgency of the crisis.
Farmers are using their personal credit cards to buy farm supplies and becoming desperate.
“This has ramifications far beyond the farmgate,” he said. “In Ontario, 700,000 jobs depend on agriculture and the food industry. We need an immediate investment by government.”
Later, the Ontario farm leader said farmers have done everything society has asked of them – improved food safety and environmental practices, united into a single voice and invested to become more efficient.
“Invest in us and we will turn your rural economy around,” he shouted, his voice breaking.
The crowd roared but there was no immediate funding announcement.
At the end of the exhausting day, Bonnett had a simple message for farmers who had been hoping for more: “Unfortunately, the work is not over.”
