The Rural Voice, 1989-07, Page 26culture (OFA) affected the vote, Paton
says — the minister by what he said
and the OFA by what it didn't say.
Riddell stated that there would be no
money for instituting supply manage-
ment. In return, Paton says, the OCA
delivered the minister the good news
that the cattle business was satisfied
with the present marketing system and
would need no money from the
government.
Any future arguments
put forth by BPFC that are
contrary to OCA policy would
be cut off by the OCA using
the vote results as an axe,
Paton predicts.
Concerning the OFA executive,
Paton says there are certain individ-
uals in the organization he is not done
with yet. "We (BPFC) asked individ-
uals (in the OFA) who stand for order-
ly marketing to stand up and say so.
They wouldn't even do that."
What will happen to the BPFC
now that their raison d'etre has been
quashed? Perhaps, like the feedlot on
the Paton farm, now a pile of broken
concrete at the back end of the proper-
ty, it will crumple. "If they (OCA)
had got a 55-45 majority we would
have hung around a year or two, but
not with that big a majority."
Paton doubts that the OCA will
consult the rival group on matters
relating to the future of the industry,
although he notes that a few of the
ideas suggested by BPFC are being
incorporated into an industry blueprint
being drafted by the OCA. Some
cattlemen have suggested that the
OCA has been much more responsive
since the arrival of BPFC, and both
organizations sat on the government -
appointed Beef Marketing Task Force
established in February of 1988 which
recommended the vote.
"They (OCA) never discussed
things with us before the vote, so they
won't after the vote, not with that
majority," Paton says.
Any future arguments put forth by
BPFC that are contrary to OCA policy
would be cut off by the OCA using the
vote results as an axe, he predicts.
"There is no doubt that what we
were suggesting would have worked,"
Paton says. "The dairy and feather
industries are examples of that."
Paton does not have the same
optimism for the future of the Ontario
cattle business. "In 1980 I could have
shown you 10,000 cattle within a mile
of here. Now you couldn't find 50."
Paton, along with his family, once fed
1,100 head on the farm in the Mount
Elgin area. "Without a change in the
marketing there is no future in cattle
for Paton Farms."
Like Paton, OCA president Jim
Magee has an empty feedlot, but as
the victor in the referendum he has the
chore of leading efforts to piece the
province's cattle industry together
again. His turn at the helm of the
OCA has not been and will not be an
easy one.
Since the checkoff instituted last
year on live cattle sales in Ontario, all
beef producers contributing payments,
including BPFC, are automatically
members in OCA.
The OCA is working on an indus-
try blueprint which will incorporate
some of the changes recommended by
the Beef Task Force.
"It was obvious the people wanted
new ideas, but not from BPFC,"
Magee says.
Ontario exports so much beef that
supply management would never have
worked, he says. BPFC wanted $1.17
per pound for fat cattle and led people
to believe that the government would
put up the money for stabilizing the
cost of production. If that happened in
the beef industry it would have to
happen in the hog industry, he says.
"The cost of production they
(BPFC) were pushing attracted people
out in the countryside," Magee says.
"It sounded good ... I would have
joined myself if I thought it could ever
work." He adds that he was not
surprised that so many other people
carne to the same conclusion.
The OCA knew the West would
never support supply management
because of the high percentage of beef
exported from Canada, Magee says,
referring to the second question on
the two-part ballot asking for support
of a national marketing plan. He es-
timates that while most beef farmers
knew how they were going to vote
long before ballots were counted,
dairy farmers were not so polarized
and made their decisions based on
what happened during the debates.
Money spent on ad campaigns
was about equal, Magee says, noting
that the $50 memberships charged
by BPFC gave the group access to
$255,000. A contentious point raised
by BPFC during the campaign was
that the OCA was using a portion of
Magee predicts that the
BPFC will not be too vocal
now the referendum is over.
"Who are they going to say it
to — their neighbours who
voted 72 per cent no?"
the $1 -million checkoff fund on the
campaign. Estimates of campaign
costs varied from $63,000 to
$200,000 for each side.
Magee predicts that the BPFC will
not be too vocal now the referendum
is over. "Who are they going to say it
to — their neighbours who voted 72
per cent no?"
All cattlemen, including BPFC,
are welcome to join in restructuring
the industry, says Magee, who keeps
100 cows on his R. R. 2, Drumbo
farm. He admits that the future for
fattening cattle in Ontario is gloomy
since the federal government failed to
include corn silage in its special grains
program. There is still a profit to be
made in cow -calf operations here, he
says, but Alberta, with its lower
feedlot operating costs, is taking over
that facet of the industry, at least north
of the 49th parallel.
Part of the strategy to revitalize
beef farming will be to maintain some
of the intensity of the debate and the
attention given to the industry during
the campaign. Fifty five per cent of
those eligible cast their mail -in ballots.
The blueprint committees will be
copying counties previously success-
ful in attracting large crowds to gen-
eral meetings as a means of getting
more people involved. The OCA
recently hired a person to act as a
liaison between county groups within
the OCA. Committees will examine
stocker sales, the dairy beef situation,
24 THE RURAL VOICE