The Rural Voice, 1988-06, Page 10SEEDSTOCK
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8 THE RURAL VOICE
FORMER SKEPTICS:
GET BACK TO EARTH
It's a nice sunny Saturday ... a time
for farmers to be on the land and a
time for this citified farm hack to be
tidying up boxes of files gathered over
13 years on the farm beat.
When I got to leafing through a
huge box of scrapbooks, my mind
began to wander. I thought of some
recent conversations I've had with
farm lobbyists I respect, and Bingo! ...
a column idea started to gel.
These people have all talked
recently with John Wise and the new
gang at the Farm Credit Corporation.
Like many farmers, these lobbyists are
frustrated with the shortcomings of the
FCC, Debt Review Boards, and con-
tinuing strife in the farm community.
Four of these lobbyists in particu-
lar I'd class as generally healthy skep-
tics. What shocked me was that to a
man they were uncharacteristically
"encouraged" after talks with Wise
and the mandarins.
As a reporter, maybe I'm more
than a healthy skeptic. Given the
history of half-baked, bandage -type
solutions out of Ottawa in the past
four years, I should maybe reclass
myself as a cynic.
I tried to remind them of promises
not fulfilled and Wise's good inten-
tions put asunder by, presumably, the
power people in the cabinet: finance
minister Michael Wilson and others.
In my scrapbooks, I came across
several of the stories that have made
me more a cynic than a skeptic.
• On November 27, 1984, shortly
after the Conservatives took office,
John Wise told the annual meeting of
the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
that no FCC debtor "will be tossed out
in a snowbank this winter." It didn't
quite work out that way: about two
months later, provincial police kicked
in the door to evict Nancy Ashe from
her farmhouse in the Chesley area.
Wise's office excused the incident by
arguing that the eviction process had
been initiated before his promise.
• On March 5, 1986, Wise told the
Canadian Federation of Agriculture
that the government was leaning
toward giving farmers the right to
refer stalled banking cases to a judge
who could delay foreclosure indefin-
itely. Farm groups are still waiting.
If you'll remember, about a year
ago Wise was touting the government
for doing more for farmers than any
previous government, and he even put
a figure on the number of its "initia-
tives" — it was in the 400 range.
A list of these so-called initiatives
included: • an announcement for sup-
port of Animal Health Week, • an an-
nouncement that the Soviet agriculture
minister would attend the International
Plowing Match, • Canadians could
now place bets in Canada on foreign
horse races, • a Chrysanthemum Show
date was set, • in December, 1985, the
Consumer Price Index showed food
prices were stable.
Of course the government has
come up with more important initi-
atives, but I hardly think that those
listed here should even be put on the
list. They'd better be put under the
heading "Groping for Straws."
I hope that this admitedly biased
selection will bring some of the nor-
mally healthy skeptics back to earth.
It's been reported that John Wise
may not even seek re-election, so why
a talk with a man in that lame -duck
frame of mind would give anyone any
encouragement beats me.
Wake up, boys! It isn't Wise you
have to get to, or FCC mandarins. It's
the like of Wilson, Mulroney, and an
old newspaper hack like Dalton Camp
you'll have to convince.
Next time you rub shoulders with
Wise and his men — or women —
pretend you're from Missouri where
the motto is: "I'm from Missouri —
Show me."0
Gord Wainman has been an urban -
based agriculture reporter for 13 years.