David Anderson, a rookie southwestern Saskatchewan MP and one of the Canadian Alliance agriculture critics in the new Parliament, doesn’t need to be convinced that the Liberal farm aid program is a dud. He has lived it.
In 1999, Anderson applied for a 1998 Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance payment and was turned down.
“This past year, I didn’t even bother,” he said in a Jan. 12 interview. “It was just too complicated.”
Anderson, the new MP for Cypress Hills-Grasslands, has been named one of two assistant critics to chief agricultural critic Howard Hilstrom. The other deputy critic is Yorkton-Melville veteran MP Garry Breitkreuz. It means the CA opposition agriculture team represents just two provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
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Anderson brings 25 years of farming experience to the job. The family farm has moved from straight grain to grain and a variety of specialty crops.
He said he comes to politics as a firm believer in a voluntary Canadian Wheat Board and the need to promote diversification in agriculture.
His riding has seen an influx of feedlots and hog barns, as well as some small agricultural implement manufacturers.
“I think diversification is the way to go, certainly in a dryland area like ours.”
Anderson recognizes that the Canadian Alliance does not promote big government programs but he does see one area where more spending is needed. He said the inadequacy of the farm safety net is the main agricultural issue in many parts of his riding and he thinks the Liberal government has an obligation to do better.
“They made a promise and said there was money set aside but much of that has not made it out to farmers,” said the rookie MP. “I think that is wrong. The government should do what it promised it would do.”
When he takes his seat on Parliament Hill Jan. 29, Anderson said he also wants to begin work to raise the profile of agricultural problems.
“The majority of people don’t seem to realize how important agriculture is or even where their food comes from,” he said.
“I do think part of my role will be to try to raise that profile, though I’m not sure how to do that yet. Perhaps I’m going into this a bit na•ve but I guess that’s OK at the beginning.”
