Friesen is president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
It’s election time again. For Canadian farmers, this means we have an opportunity to redress the big flaw of the last election – the failure to address agriculture issues.
Farmers – all farmers – are going to have to work very hard. We are going to have to mobilize. We are going to have to get active. We are going to have to work like election candidates and focus our energy on the campaign trail.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture once again has an election strategy. We will send our message to every candidate in every riding in this country. We will call on the national parties to endorse our proposal for a Canadian farm bill. And we will once again host a national debate on agriculture featuring the minister and agriculture critics.
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In this election CFA will highlight four major themes:
- Industry-driven farm policy. CFA met with Canada’s agriculture ministers and presented its plan for the next generation of agriculture policy, a farm bill for Canada. All parties must commit in their policy platforms to working with the industry and supporting industry-driven farm policy, including short-, medium- and long-term measures.
- Trade. All parties must make a firm commitment to defending Canada’s interests at the World Trade Organization, reducing global export subsidies, expanding market access and preserving our domestic marketing systems.
- Farm income and the Easter Report. The income crisis is one of the most pressing issues facing Canadian farmers today. CFA is calling on all leaders to set aside partisanship and commit to implementing the recommendations of the Easter report.
- Supporting farmers who provide a public good. CFA is calling on all parties to include in their platforms a recognition of the public benefits farmers provide, such as food safety and environmental stewardship initiatives, and a commitment to ensuring the cost of providing those benefits is shared equally among all the beneficiaries.
How can farmers help us make sure the media and the election candidates can’t ignore agriculture issues this time around? Attend all your local debates and all-candidates meetings. Ask questions. Organize your own debates. Watch the news coverage in the mainstream media.
If there’s a call-in show, call in. Visit the websites of the major media. If they have links to submit comments or ask questions, use them. If you hear that a party leader is going to be in your area, get together a farmer delegation and attend their events.
There are more than 300,000 farm operators in this country, and our industry directly impacts the lives of millions of Canadians. The farm vote counts. And in this election, if we work together, we will show that our issues cannot be ignored.
