Words to the wise for new deputy ag minister - Opinion

To:

Yaprak Baltacioglu

Deputy Minister (as of March 5)

Agriculture Canada,

9th Floor

Sir John Carling Building

Ottawa

Dear Ms. Baltacioglu:

Welcome back. It has been almost five years since you walked the halls of Sir John Carling in 2002 as assistant deputy minister.

Much has changed since you last waded through the gumbo that is agricultural policy in Canada. Some remains the same.

You will receive many briefings during the next month about the current bureaucratic, policy and political landscape. They will be invaluable but varnished by the agenda of the department and the government.

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As an outsider who often finds the Sir John Carling agenda baffling or indecipherable, I offer the following gratis advice about what has happened, what is happening and what you face.

What has changed?

Well, in 2002 the person who occupied the deputy minister’s office (I’ve forgotten the name) seemed to think abusive behaviour was an effective management style. Employees in the line of fire were deeply unhappy.

Employees are much happier now. In your absence, the 9th floor also produced another “management by abuse” character but that too is past. You will find a happier staff, looking to you to continue the good vibes.

You also will find political bosses more determined and single minded than you remember, politicians with a clear agenda for change and more willing to play divisive politics to achieve their goals.

This has put bureaucrats, who are simply doing their duty, more in the firing line of critics. A chat with Howard Migie about his experience on the Canadian Wheat Board file will give you an idea of the point.

What has not changed?

The government’s inability to design a farm support program that wins approval from its beneficiaries remains intact.

When you left, the Canadian Farm Income Program was shipping billions of dollars to farmers. It was despised. You were involved in designing the successor Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program that ships record amounts of money to farmers. It is despised. Get used to it.

Hearings are underway to design yet another generation of farm support programs and they will likely be despised. As the flaws of CAIS were tagged to a predecessor whose name escapes me, so the flaws of the new program could be tagged to you.

There is some optimism in the sector since you last were here – biofuel, a grain price spike, a beef sector that walked through the BSE valley of the shadow of death and survived, and a poultry industry that has discovered there is life beyond avian influenza although the disease watch is much more intense since you were here.

Spend time making sure the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is getting it right.

And despite the outbreaks of optimism, a sector battered by so many income, weather and disease calamities in the past decade is reluctant to believe good times really are just around the corner. Disaster may be lurking in the shadows cast by the sunlight.

Listen to farmers as they tell you the new program should be based not on previous years’ low-income levels but on present-day costs. If you do, they may even get to like you, but don’t expect too much public praise. It would be out of character.