Some of the toughest criticism agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief received last week over the lack of new budget spending for farmers came from within his own caucus.
A prominent member of the Liberal caucus task force on agriculture used a private Dec. 12 meeting of the Liberal caucus to launch a pointed criticism of Vanclief.
Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter complained that agriculture’s case is not made well enough at cabinet. The result is that while American politicians talk about how much they can make available in farm supports, the Dec. 10 Canadian budget made no specific commitments.
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“I cannot talk about caucus conversations but I can say that I feel very, very strongly that we have to advocate more strenuously on behalf of the industry before cabinet,” said Easter, a three-term MP, former National Farmers Union president and current chair of the House of Commons fisheries committee.
One caucus source said Easter had suggested Vanclief resign if he couldn’t do better.
“I certainly never said to Lyle that he should quit but I did say that I don’t think agriculture’s case is being made forcefully enough either in the department or in cabinet,” he said.
Easter did not blame finance minister Paul Martin for the lack of new money. He suggested Vanclief isn’t asking and if he did, he might do better.
“I have had several conversations with Martin and he is concerned. He wants to do something,” said Easter. “But the department in charge has to work with him. You can’t expect the minister of finance to say, if we’re asking for $1.1 billion, that we should be asking for two.”
The MP suggested the agriculture department should set specific goals for the industry and be accountable for how well those are met.
“I firmly believe if the department wants to move in a new direction, we should lay out some principles and objectives,” said the Atlantic MP and former dairy farmer. “Where do we want farm incomes to be in five years time in relation to the industrial average? How many farmers do we really want by then? Lay it out.”
And if those objectives are not met “then somebody should have to answer for it, whether it’s the minister or the departmental people.”
Easter said that as a member of the task force on agriculture, he is making his view known that the government should be doing better.
Task force chair Bob Speller, an Ontario MP, was less direct than Easter but said the task force will send an interim report to prime minister Jean Chrétien this month suggesting that farmers cannot wait too long for more effective safety net programs.
“We have problems out there, particularly in grains and oilseeds, and we believe there are things that need to be done in the short term so there are still farmers on the land to benefit from the long-term plans,” he said in a Dec. 13 interview.
Easter, who has suggested the department and its senior bureaucrats including deputy minister Samy Watson are out of touch with farmer needs, said cabinet must be told firmly that the Canadian government has fallen behind in farm supports.
“What should be shown to cabinet are OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) figures on farm subsidy levels saying ‘here’s where the Europeans are at, here’s where the Americans are at and here’s where the boy scouts, I mean Canada, is at,’ ” said the MP.
“We need someone who’s going to advocate at cabinet for us. There is no better time to be making the food security argument.”
So should Vanclief resign if he can’t do better?
“Vanclief is the voice we’ve got,” said Easter. “I don’t think the department is putting together the materials for argument well enough.”
