The Rural Voice, 1988-06, Page 20sure that he's gone. When they realize
he has, his secretary Helen Barradas
buries her head in her hands because
she has missed getting him messages
before he hurried off.
John Wiley, who has recently
finished briefing Riddell, takes time to
explain the inner workings of the min-
istry. Using a flow -chart, he shows
the various lines of command reaching
from Riddell's and Switzer's offices
right down to the offices of the 54
agricultural representatives across the
province. Agriculture, along with
Natural Resources and a few other
ministries, is spread out from Windsor
to Ottawa, Toronto to Emo.
Gord Wainman asks
about demands that
the province step in
to provide farmers
with the long-term
financing not being
provided federally...
There are 1,724 regular full-time
employees and 697 part-time, season-
al, and casual workers. In Toronto,
staff are found in three buildings: the
Bay Street headquarters and two buil-
dings on Yonge Street. The Advisory
and Technical Services Branch is loca-
ted at Guelph, along with some labor-
atory facilities. The big move will be
in about four years, when virtually the
entire OMAF headquarters will move
to Guelph.
The co-ordination of that move
has required plenty of planning, and
a special department, the Guelph De-
velopment Project, has been set up,
reporting directly to Clay Switzer's
office.
Getting the whole OMAF staff into
a more rural setting just has to help the
operation of the ministry, Wiley says.
For one thing, having all staff in one
building will improve communica-
tions. In a smaller city the staff is also
more likely to communicate away
from the office, taking part in more
social activities. And the farmer
clients of the ministry don't really
relish coming into the heart of down-
town Toronto, Wiley says, so they
should feel more at home in Guelph.
A more subtle benefit is that staff will
be close to the community they are
serving, seeing real fanning just a few
minutes from their homes instead of
being isolated from it in a big city.
Communications and consultation
both within the ministry and with
other ministries is essential, Wiley
says. Although OMAF is a relatively
small ministry, its work often involves
other ministries. Foodland preserva-
tion and soil and water management
programs often cross boundaries to the
environment ministry, for example.
Consultation is essential when devel-
oping new legislation because if a
program gets to a CCEP meeting and
other ministries don't know what's
going on, the whole program can grind
to a halt.
Riddell returns from the CCEP
meeting and a number of aides scurry
into his office. There has been some
confusion over items in the budget
that they want to get straight.
Meanwhile, CBC's Radio Noon
program for the Ottawa area has called
wanting to speak to Riddell about
aspects of the budget as they apply to
agriculture. Riddell does the
interview over the telephone while
those waiting for a scheduled 11 am.
briefing on his speech to the farm
writers mill around outside his office.
The communications staff tries to
give the media direct and quick access
to Riddell, Bruce Stewart says. As a
former legislature reporter for the
Hamilton Spectator, Stewart knows
how much waiting for a minister to
return a phone call can jar the nerves
of reporters, particularly as a deadline
approaches. If the minister is tied up
with a cabinet meeting or with other
duties it may take a few hours for him
to get back to a reporter, but only
rarely does it take longer than that,
Stewart says.
The interview over, the briefmg
begins. The conversation area is
quickly filled with people from vari-
ous ministry departments whose input
is needed for the luncheon. Lou
D'Onofrio, Bruce Stewart, and Jim
Fitzgerald are joined by Jennifer
Gallivan, the liaison officer from the
Economics and Policy Branch who
prepares the briefing notes, Susan
McCallum from the Financial
Assistance Branch, and Lee Allison,
the director of the Communications
Branch.
Briefings help Riddell to stay on
top of an incredible amount of infor-
mation. Gallivan's briefing book is a
thick binder of the latest information
divided into subjects. It includes sug-
gested responses to various issues.
There is a sense of urgency as the
briefing begins because it's 11:30 and
they are already a half hour behind
schedule.
The luncheon is for a tough
audience, experienced agricultural
reporters from across the province.
Riddell is told about the number of
... Riddell replies that
such a program
would cost the
province $1.5 billion a
year and would mean
huge cuts in other
farm programs.
submissions to the Beef Marketing
Task Force, and informed that there
will be a payment on hogs for the first
quarter announced the next week but
that he can announce it during ques-
tioning if he wishes. There's a section
on the number of requests referring to
agricultural subjects under the free-
dom of information and privacy act.
Stewart predicts what one of the farm
writers will likely ask on the subject.
There's a discussion on a change
in the wording of a clause in the Farm -
Start program. Farmers whose parents
are already in the business can still be
eligible, it is explained. There is
confusion over some of the terms.
Riddell suggests that somebody get
it clarified. Stewart hurries off.
Riddell is informed that all the
money for the Ontario Farm Manage-
ment, Safety and Repairs Program was
allocated as of mid-March. Riddell
asks if anyone has checked the bro-
chure and other material to make sure
it was clearly stated that once the
money was used up the program had
ended. Lee Allison produces a copy
of the brochure and points out the
wording to him.
18 THE RURAL VOICE