OTTAWA – Agricultural minister Ralph Goodale will be one of a handful of government ministers targeted by Reform for aggressive pressure this fall as Parliament begins its last session before an election, says a Reform strategist.
Reform will be trying to pin the agriculture minister down as the country moves toward the next vote, Reform agriculture spokesperson Elwin Hermanson said last week after a summer Reform caucus meeting.
“There will be a half dozen or so ministers we target,” he said Aug. 1 at the end of the Ottawa caucus. “We’d like to flesh out Goodale’s long-range ideals and goals for the sector, beyond an export target. We think it is important that voters know where he stands.”
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Hermanson said Canadian Wheat Board reform, disposition of the government hopper car fleet and supply management reform will be key areas of debate as Reform creates pre-election distance between itself and the Liberals.
“There is great uncertainty in the industry right now and this minister has shown himself incapable of providing leadership,” said the Saskatchewan Reform MP, former House leader and key election planner for the Saskatchewan campaign.
“We are going to try to keep Goodale’s feet to the fire until he takes some positions.”
Hermanson predicted the next session of Parliament, opening in mid-September, will be the last before a summer or autumn 1997 election.
“I think it will be a very political House. That’s the way our system works as we get closer to an election.”
He said Reform will try to force Goodale to take a stand on the future powers of the Canadian Wheat Board.
“I’m afraid he will do some minor things but leave the big questions aside until the election,” said Hermanson. “I hope that is not the case, but I have my suspicions.”
He said Reform MPs also spent time at the caucus planning election strategy.
Get messages out
He said MPs will have to split their time between the House of Commons and their constituencies during the next year.
“We find if we just work in the House, the message is filtered and doesn’t get out to the countryside,” he said. “I think we have to spend time getting our message directly to our constituents. We need 565 days next year, not 365. It is going to be a busy year.”
