This federal election campaign is likely Gerry Ritz’s last.
“My wife had me 90 percent convinced not to run again,” he said of the current campaign where he is seeking his seventh term in Battlefords-Lloydminster.
In the last four years he averaged only three to four nights a month at home and spent weeks travelling the world promoting Canadian agricultural products and working on trade deals.
And, there are the death threats.
“If I haven’t had a death threat by Tuesday it’s been a slow week,” he quips in true Ritz style.
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But there are things he wants to see finished, including trade deals, the country-of-origin labelling dispute with the United States and better grain transportation logistics in Canada, so the 64-year-old’s name is back on the ballot.
He sometimes is criticized for not getting back to ribbon-cuttings and local events but he said it’s more important that he gets the funding that led to the ribbon-cutting. Plus, it’s 10 hours one way back to the riding in northwestern Saskatchewan.
He also is criticized for the money spent on his travel. He says just ask the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association about the value of it, however.
“CCA would tell you it’s $2,000 for every dollar invested,” he said.
So he keeps on, despite the fact that jet lag hurts a little more these days, and he expects to be back on the government benches after the Oct. 19 vote.
First elected in 1997, Ritz was named agriculture minister 10 years later.
In the 2011 election he took 67 percent of the vote, followed by the NDP at 27 percent.
Challengers this time include Glenn Tait for the NDP, who stepped in after Sandra Arias dropped out in late September citing financial strain. Larry Ingram is running for the Liberals and Mikaela Tenkink for the Green party. Former NDP provincial cabinet minister Doug Anguish entered the race late last month as an independent.
Ritz has been on secondary campaign tours across the country and said agriculture is in good shape.
The issue most people raise is stability, he said. Farmers want to know what governments are going to do so they can build their businesses.
“We very much view our relationship with industry as a partnership,” Ritz said.
AgriStability in particular always comes up, he said.
People either want to see the business risk management program gone completely, with enhanced insurance-based programming, or they are concerned it doesn’t go far enough to help them.
He likens it to a tight-rope walk trying to balance the interests of those who want governments to do everything and those who want it out of the way.
“I’m not promising anything,” he said when asked about possible changes to business risk management programs. “Changes to the business risk management suite are driven by votes of the provinces and territories.
“We can be part of the discussion, part of the debate, we can certainly shape what that debate might be.”
Specific agricultural platforms have been few and far between during this campaign but Ritz said that’s because any discussion of trade, the economy, infrastructure and other areas naturally include the agricultural sector and rural residents.
“Agriculture is so foundational to (the) Canadian economy and rural development,” he said.
Farmers tell him they don’t need specific agriculture platform promises, he said, but lobbyists and organizations do because they want something to hang their hats on.
While Ritz said he is happy to return to a Conservative government cabinet in any capacity there are suggestions that he could serve as transport minister.
He said he is anxious to see the final report of the Canada Transportation Act review but doesn’t expect that until after the election.
“I don’t think any of their recommendations will come as a shock to anyone, they’ve been that inclusive,” he said of the review panel’s work.
“We all know that many things need to be addressed. The railways have been the problem a couple of years ago and one continues to be.”
Ritz doesn’t apologize for changes and cuts to the former Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration in the last term or for his blunt talk.
On the decision to transfer the federal pastures to the provinces: “At the risk of getting more death threats, you don’t need to unionize cowboys on a quad running around in a pasture. Farmers themselves are great environmentalists.”
On the Green party platform to support local, small-scale agriculture: “The price of oxen is going to go up because you’ll need them to pull the plow.”
On the question of whether his presence in Atlanta would have added weight to the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks: “I’m only 180 pounds.”
karen.briere@producer.com
