He would not be human if Lyle Vanclief, former Liberal agriculture minister who had his share of bad days in office, did not allow himself a small smug smile Nov. 7.
On that day, the 67-year-old was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame at the Royal Agricultural Fair in Toronto.
Along with fellow inductee Bertram Stewart, a 4-H stalwart, Vanclief was feted as an “exceptional individual” who changed Canadian agriculture.
“During his years as federal agriculture minister (1997-2003), Lyle approached all the challenges and opportunities with a strong commitment and secured vision on the long-term health of the Canadian agriculture industry,” said his citation.
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“From the beginning of the BSE crisis to the development of the Agricultural Policy Framework, Lyle made positive, historic changes in the Canadian agriculture and food industry.”
On the ground, in the middle of those tumultuous years, “positive” and “historic” were not words often associated with Vanclief.
His elevation to one of the select few honoured as a Canadian agricultural innovator makes Vanclief a poster boy for other politicians as they get their slats kicked in during partisan political debate.
The message: history may treat you more kindly.
Vanclief had his moments.
He was an Ontario farmer who lived through the killer high interest rates of the 1980s and found his farm on the road to bankruptcy with crushing debt.
Election to Parliament in 1988 gave him a financial escape but as an MP, chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee and then minister, Vanclief said his goal was to help farmers.
They didn’t always see it that way.
He was burned in effigy, heard his manhood and ancestry challenged and was generally reviled as a minister who did too little too late.
At one memorable Canadian Federation of Agriculture meeting, he was denounced for announcing $500 million in aid rather than the expected $1 billion.
In Prince Albert, Sask., he needed security to protect him from angry farmer protesters.
Of course, the days of $500 million ad hoc payments, or the billions spent on BSE damages are long gone.
But there seems little of the anti-minister passion that characterized Vanclief’s time.
Current minister Gerry Ritz has had a remarkably free ride.
Vanclief brought in long-term agricultural funding that did not require political decisions for payouts but did require that farmers not factor government aid into business plans.
“You can’t expect to be successful in this business in spite of yourself,” he said after the award was announced. “You have to succeed because of yourself and the decisions you have made.”
Vanclief was feted for his impact on agriculture policy. The debate about whether the flawed APF historic margin formula for farm aid is appropriate rages on but Vanclief can take comfort in the industry recognition of his role in changing the debate.
There were days during his time in the trenches when this seemed unlikely.
