Forget placards, says farm chief

It's all quiet on the federal farm lobby front
these days. Can you say $6 wheat?
Healthy commodity prices have brought complacency
as well as cash to the concessions, but it's not
the only reason Parliament Hillers are unlikely to
see a repeat of the historic GATT rally of almost
four years ago, say veteran farm lobbyists.
In February, 1992, threats to supply management at
trade negotiations in Geneva brought 50,000 farmers
to the Hill. Today, with tariffs going before a
NAFTA panel in early 1996, the threat is even
greater, but you won't see farmers in the streets,
predicts Jack Wilkinson, president of the Canadian
Federation of Agriculture.
"There's nothing that slows a lobby down quicker
than farm receipts," Wilkinson told the Canadian
Farm Writers Federation  in Ottawa recently. As for
mounting a demonstration, Wilkinson said CFA is
already looking ahead to the next GATT round in six
years.
And, in any case, whom would farmers march against?
he wondered. "The MPs are not making the decision.
The minister is not making the decision. The PM is
not making the decision. So where do you go?"
Answer: south. Wilkinson said he is back and forth
to Washington much more than his predecessors were:
"CFA wants me to play a greater international
role."
The days of lobbying your MP are fast disappearing,
he said. While the job of a CFA president used to
be "to get as much money out of the printing press"
as possible, now it's damage control: "to make sure
(Finance Minister Paul) Martin didn't hit us worse
than anyone else.
"There was an understanding from farmers that the
books have to be balanced. Farmers were convinced
that MPs didn't have the capability of influencing
the outcome. The person you sent to Ottawa was
almost irrelevant." Wilkinson said much of the
day-to-day lobbying takes place at the bureaucratic
level.
Veteran Saskatchewan MP and NDP agriculture critic
Vic Althouse pointed the finger at the draconian
debate closure rules at the House of Commons.
"Legislation can be introduced on Monday and be law
on Friday....MPs have no say over how dollars will
be spent. They used to harass the civil servants
and the minister, but that power to harass is zero.
"It's three hours of debate on one motion....The
only power you have is to stand up and vote."
Citing a "corporate society and corporate
mentality", Althouse said the decision making now
takes place behind closed doors: "We don't like the
word 'backroom' in politics, so we do it in the
boardroom....That is becoming the way of politics
in this country."
Long-time CBC Radio
broadcaster-turned-politician-turned-flak Jim
Caldwell said simple demographics have weakened the
farm voice. "If you came to Ottawa looking for the
voice of rural Canada, I don't think you're going
to find it here," said Caldwell, director of
government affairs for the Canadian Cattlemen's
Association. There are more ridings within a
20-mile radius of Ottawa than in all of Manitoba,
he said.
Meanwhile, the carpet was rolled out when computer
whiz Bill Gates visited the capital. "He was
treated like royalty. I haven't seen anyone get
that kind of treatment," said Caldwell. - JMM
   

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