The Rural Voice, 1979-05, Page 28should team up the New Democratic Party
was formed under Tommy Douglas who
had headed CCF governments in Saskatch-
ewan. The NDP still has strength in the
West. It has formed governments in British
Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Obviously in Saskatchewan and Manitoba
the farm vote is still important to the NDP
but nationally it has become not a farmer's
party but a labour party.
The big fuss these days in the campaign
for the NDP has been the all out effort of
support being given by the Canadian
Labour Congress. Labour and farmers may
still be supposedly a team but the team is
now like a Clydesdale hitched with a
Shetland pony.
It's a sad state for farmers. Both the
Liberals and Conservatives though they
have often drawn farm support, depend to
a great extent on big business support. If it
comes to a choice between farmers, that
rowdy, disunited bunch scattered through
a couple of hundred ridings across the
country, and big business which can
provide influence and money to political
campaigns, the farmer's not likely to win
out. He just hasn't got the clout.
But now we see the alternative shot
down too. The party started by farmers is
now dominated by big labour and frankly I
don't think farmers are much better off in
the hands of big labour than they are in the
hands of big business. Strikes can hold
farmers up to ransom just as much as
artificial shortages and cost increases.
I've attended a lot of all -candidates
nights in recent years in this neck of the
woods and found it downright embarassing
to hear the NDP candidates try to get up
and explain their party's farm policy.
With . the exception of the last provincial
election when the NDP managed to round
up both Gordon Hill and Walter Miller,
most of the NDP candidates were lucky if
they knew which end of a cow to start at to
get milk. Even some of the provincial
agricultural critics that have come up this
way haven't had much knowledge of farm
issues. Even in our own local area the NDP
is dominated by school teachers and
unionists, sometimes in the same person.
Maybe it's time farmers started all over
again and built their own party. Maybe if
farmers could all vote together they could
form a strong enough voting block to elect
some members and hold a little power in
Ottawa. The likelihood of course is small
because farmers aren't likely to ever agree
on anything, even if it is good for them.
Some have voted Conservative or Liberal or
Socialist since their fathers told them how
and they'd not likely change now. They'll
complain a lot though when their power
continues to decline.
PG. 26 THE RURAL VOICE/MAY 1979
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