The news report out of Quebec was startling, a seeming blast from the past. Farmer political action, aided by good political timing and a sympathetic political leader, actually resulted in a victory for farm lobbyists.
Hog farmers late last week won a major financial concession from the budget-conscious provincial government.
Up to $30 million will be restored to the provincial hog stabilization program and the government has promised no more will be cut.
How did it happen?
In part, it was the result of some good old-fashioned farmer protest tactics.
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As hog prices fell and government support was found wanting, farmers took to the streets – more precisely, four-lane Highway 20, which links Montreal and Quebec City.
At first, they hung carcasses from the overpasses. Then they closed down two lanes by herding pigs onto the freeway.
Agriculture minister Guy Julien said he would not talk to the farmers until the protest ended. In the end, the police stopped the disruption.
Within days, the government concession was announced. Some of the estimated $50 million in cuts to the program over the past several years of deficit fighting would be restored. While insisting it was not enough to save all beleaguered hog producers, the farmers proclaimed a victory.
The timing of the crisis helped.
Premier Lucien Bouchard is toying with the idea of calling an election, this autumn or in spring at the latest. The rural population has been a core of support for Bouchard’s Parti QuŽbecois.
Farmers are not a constituency the government wants to alienate in a political season that will feature an election too close to call. But there is more to it than simple pre-election politics.
Quebec farm leaders say premier Bouchard is knowledgeable, involved and sympathetic on farm issues.
Last summer, the government organized several days of talks about rural and farm issues. Bouchard chaired the sessions for two days, listening to the debates, asking questions and offering opinions.
“He was impressive,” said one of the farm organization representatives. “He had been well briefed. He understood the implications. He had the details.”
In fact, since Quebec’s powerful farm lobby , the Union des Producteurs Agricoles, considers Julien a weak and inadequate minister, it tends to talk directly to the premier’s staff. Bouchard, says a long-time UPA official, seems to understand that rural Quebec is both an important constituency for PQ politics and an important part of the Quebec economy.
So the Quebec formula for getting sympathetic government attention seems straightforward enough: in-your-face political action wedded to good timing and the presence of a political leader with an appreciation of the importance of the green spaces between the cities.
Would it work in English Canada?
It is difficult to imagine where, given the weak farm lobby in most provinces and low priority given to agriculture by most provincial governments.
Once again, Quebec plays the role of distinct society.
