For the next year, this column will mark The Western Producer’s 100th anniversary by taking a deep dive every week into a past issue of the paper.
I was looking forward to reaching the April 9, 1987, issue because it was the first paper that I would write about for this column in that I had a (albeit small) hand in producing.
I started working at the Producer in November of 1986 as a layout editor, and I was curious to see if I might recognize some of the pages I had designed.
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I didn’t notice any of my page layout handiwork, but I did find my byline sprinkled throughout the issue, including one on the front page.
It had completely slipped my mind that the paper had sent me to Calgary that spring to cover the provincial Progressive Conservative party’s annual convention.
The front page story was about Alberta premier Don Getty taking a more conciliatory approach to the federal government in Ottawa than he had a few days earlier, when he railed against prime minister Brian Mulroney’s PC government for not doing enough to help the ailing oil industry.
There were also stories about Getty vowing to put Senate reform on his priority list and about farmers lining up at the microphones during a convention debate to slam the provincial government for cutting the fuel rebate.
Receiving more prominence than my three stories was a three-page special report about the influence that agricultural economists had in setting government policy.
The main story started out talking about economist T.K. Warley, who had been invited to a high level meeting of senior cabinet ministers to talk about how free trade would help Canadian farmers.
Another story featured economist Clay Gilson and the “tremendous input” he had on ag policy.
Two others talked about how ag economist academics were leading the opposition against supply management.
On a lighter note, the paper ran a story about Pierre, a stubborn donkey who was used to halter break calves on Joe Pek’s Charolais ranch near Landis, Sask.
