Whether it is fair or not, new deputy agriculture minister Frank Claydon assumes his pivotal new job with a reputation. In farm lobby offices, and on Parliament Hill, he is seen by many as a bureaucrats’ bureaucrat – a man who pursues government agendas whether or not they are in farmer interests.
It meant that as word spread last week of his appointment, many people were biting their tongues for fear of saying something that might come back to haunt them. “Do you think he’s ever been on a farm?” one MP quipped.
Read Also
Late season rainfall creates concern about Prairie crop quality
Praying for rain is being replaced with the hope that rain can stop for harvest. Rainfall in July and early August has been much greater than normal.
“Frank Claydon?” asked one lobbyist when informed of the appointment. “Is this confirmed or do we still have a chance to do some lobbying?”
Claydon knows this is his reputation, even if he thinks it is unfair. It has been evident when he appears before MPs and faces tough, sometimes sharp, questions about the quality of Agriculture Canada consultations with farmers.
It has been suggested more than once that the department’s policy branch, when he was in charge, cared more about ‘competitiveness’ and ‘efficiency’ than whether actual farmers survived.
And it was made clear to him last March when the Canadian Federation of Agriculture issued its ‘report card’ on the government.
Claydon’s policy branch received a D, one of the lowest marks. “Consult but don’t listen,” said the cryptic explanation.
“In an age where everyone is supposed to be client-oriented, this branch looks to serve only the minister and the deputy minister.”
In his own defence, Claydon says policy branch by its nature is more secretive than others because it sometimes is devising policy to implement government decisions not yet announced.
He says his style is to look for “partners” and to give food industry groups more say, much earlier, in government planning. He says he has no personal agenda and wants his department to work in the best interests of the government and the industry.
He considers himself, after a decade as assistant deputy minister for policy, an Agriculture Canada man.
Yet many in the industry still see him as a Treasury Board man, where he worked for 15 years before coming to Agriculture Canada, and where they imagine he learned to consider the financial bottom line more important in government than the human bottom line.
Larry Martin of the University of Guelph caught the spirit of this sentiment last week when he was asked the advantage of promoting an insider to the deputy minister’s job.
Martin laughed. “My perception is that he is still seen by many as someone who is from outside agriculture.”
Claydon faces many challenges as he takes over one of the federal government’s most difficult bureaucratic positions.
None may be more important to his success than how he handles the issue of the baggage he brings to the job.
He is going to have to prove through deeds, rather than words, that he has an open mind about farmer concerns and interests and will reflect that concern in the policies he pushes.
