Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl made good first impressions last week as he began to meet people he will be dealing with in his new job.
“He appears to be a very, very competent man,” Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen said after CFA executive members met with the new minister Feb. 14 in Toronto.
“I got the feeling from him that he is beginning to get a firm grasp on some of the issues before him and that he is eager to begin dealing with those issues.”
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And Friesen said Strahl had committed to working with farmers as he devises Conservative government responses to issues facing the industry.
“We asked for a commitment that he would work with farmers as partners and he said absolutely,” Friesen said. “We would prefer to do our work with government behind closed doors and then walk out together in a partnership.”
Ontario agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky was the first provincial minister to meet the new federal minister and she also came out of the Mississauga meeting sounding impressed.
“I am encouraged by the federal government’s awareness of the challenges facing Ontario farmers and I hope that our two levels of government will be able to work together to address those challenges,” she said in a statement issued after their Feb. 14 meeting.
Over the next few weeks, Strahl will be travelling to meetings across the country. He makes his first major speech to a farm lobby audience when he gives a keynote address to the CFA annual meeting in Ottawa March 1.
Strahl is hoping to arrange his first federal-provincial ministers’ meeting in Vancouver at the end of March before he faces Parliament for the first time as minister April 3.
He has much to discuss with provincial ministers and the industry.
During the election campaign, the Conservative party promised to add $500 million annually to farm supports and to scrap the present Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program in favour of a program that creates a disaster fund, including trade damage mitigation, separate from stabilization.
The new government also faces predictions of a record farm income crunch in 2006, provincial complaints that they cannot afford their 40 percent program funding and World Trade Organization talks that are in a crucial phase.
“It’s going to be challenging for him, no doubt about it,” Friesen said.
“But we’re prepared to work with him on long-term solutions while the government increases short-term support because the income hole is growing. In opposition, the Conservatives made agriculture a priority and we expect they will do the same in government. We’re going to do everything possible to keep a high profile for agricultural issues.”
Although Strahl has not been known as an active agriculture advocate during his 13 years as an MP from the Chilliwack-Fraser Valley area of interior British Columbia, he represents a large food and agriculture sector.
The CFA calculates that agriculture and food processing contribute at least $175 million annually to the economy of his riding and 46 percent of the goods-producing jobs.
