Last week, it seemed as though we’d be waiting for an election announcement until the cows came home.
Once it’s called, candidates start running around like chickens with their heads cut off, while the electorate watches to ensure they don’t buy a pig in a poke.
The agricultural expressions used above are no accident, of course, because agriculture is exactly what we plan to bring to Western Producer coverage of the election.
Our mission is to get farm and rural issues into the debate and onto every political agenda, so we’ll be gauging things from that context as the campaign unfolds.
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There’s no shortage of ag issues this time around: BSE and matters related to aid; U.S. relations and trade involving cattle, wheat and hogs; agricultural policy in general and support programs in particular; the future of supply management; the sorry state of farm incomes; low commodity prices, grain transportation issues; fuel costs; pesticide registration and use; and on it goes.
Obviously many people see the volatility of this election as fertile ground for agricultural issues. That is evident from the high number of farm-connected western candidates who have won nominations.
Examples include Don Dewar, former president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, Nettie Wiebe, former president of the National Farmers Union, Ted Menzies, former president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association and Ted Haney, president of the Canada Beef Export Federation. And there may be others as well.
Agriculture will surely be on the agenda in each of the constituencies where these people are running, and we expect to profile many of them, and their opponents, as part of our election coverage.
Beyond that, it will be up to voters involved in the agricultural industry to ensure the issues come up at forums and debates. We would like to help with that as much as we’re able, so please tell us about agriculture-related issues in your area so we can ask questions of candidates, and possibly the leaders, on your behalf.
Leading our election coverage will be Barry Wilson, a veteran of political coverage who has worked for the Producer on Parliament Hill for more than 20 years. Our other reporters in Western Canada will also contribute in our efforts to provide information you need before casting a ballot.
Since I opened with the ridiculous, I’ll close with the sublime – a quote from Plato, who knew a little bit about democracy: “The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.”
