The Rural Voice, 1979-05, Page 27Keith Roulston
The decline of the farm vote
Any farmers who had any doubt about
the declining value of their vote should
certainly have the concern made clear if
they look carefully at the current federal
election campaign.
There was, of course, the famous
statement by the Prime Minister in Quebec
about farmers being professional comp-
lainers, but it goes much farther than that.
At least the Prime Minister wasn't
ignoring farmers for a change when he
made his statement. There is even a good
deal of truth in what he said: farmers are so
used to complaining about bad weather,
about poor prices, about stupid politicians
and ignorant consumer activists and the
cheap food policy, that they sometimes
don't know how to quit, even when things
are going well. But a politician should
never be so stupid as to say that. It's like a
mother who is upset with the actions of her
own children but when somebody outside
her family calls the kids brats, she'll
suddenly defend the kids to the limit.
Farmers may agree among themselves that
they complain too much, but the Prime
Minister saying it is something else.
But the lack of interest in the farm vote
(at least in the campaign when this is
written) is the strongest evidence of the
decline in the importance of the farm vote.
Just about every other issue comes before
farm issues, at least on a national level.
When they are in an important farming
area politicians might speak on farm topics
but once they get out in the "real" world
again, back among the factory smokestacks
and the highrise apartments, somehow
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you'd never know there were farmers in
the country.
The sad fact of the declining importance
of catering to the agricultural community
can be seen easiest in the New Democratic
Party. Once upon a time the roots of the
NDP were planted firmly in the agricultural
soil of Canada. The party grew out of the
concern of farmers in Western Canada that
they got a fair deal from government. They
formed the Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF) in 1933 and the party
spread throughout Canada. At various
times it held the balance of power in
minority government situations. It was
even a threat at times here in Ontario.
In later years when socialist elements in
labour and in farm organizations felt they
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THE RURAL VOICE/MAY 1979 PG 25