The Rural Voice, 1980-09, Page 12Murray Cardiff makes a point of coming home every weekend - a chance to keep
with "back home."
"Your" man
in Ottawa
Rural Voice asks the MPs
what they are doing for area farmers
MURRAY CARDIFF
BY SHEILA GUNBY
What sort of job can one man do in
the face of big government?
Murray Cardiff, MP for Huron -Bruce
said when he first arrived in Ottawa, he
wondered.
"The first few weeks in the House of
Commons, you felt you should be sitting
in your seat - almost totally," he says.
"It was so discouraging too because of
the lack of decorum and the 'carryings
on' in the House. I would say to myself -
this is Parliament? This is the govern -
In touch
ment of Canada? I wondered how
anyone got anything done in a situation
like this."
But Murray Cardiff is settled in now
and has been appointed to three
committees.
"Once the committee work got
started, I felt things were being more
constructive", he says. "It's also
non-partisan which I appreciate very
much."
STANDING COMMITTEE
Being on the Finance, Trade and
PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE/SEPTEMBER 1980
Economic Affairs Committee has been
quite an experience for Cardiff. It's the
most time consuming of his assign-
ments. On this committee, he had the
opportunity to study the Bank Act and
its effect on agriculture and industry. At
present, the Act gives the banks the
first call on the assets of a packer who
goes bankrupt; the farmer receives
payment after the banks. Recently, in
Huron -Bruce, farmers shipped their
product to a processor and the processor
went bankrupt, putting the farmer in an
unenviable situation. This may change
and legislation may be passed for the
farmer's benefit.
AGRICULTURE
Cardiff also serves on the standing
committee for agriculture.
"There have not been a lot of
meetings of this committee as yet," he
says. "The chairman and a lot of the
committee members are from Quebec
and with the referendum being held, I
don't think any of us pushed hard to
hold meetings, so they would be free to
be in their own ridings.
"Actually, we have discussed more
agriculture under 'finance' than we
have under 'agriculture'," he says.
"Agriculture minister Eugene Whelan
has appeared before the Agriculture
Committee a couple of times and we
recently had a meeting with the
Canadian Federation of Agriculture
(CFA). A 28 page brief was presented
which covered every aspect of agricul-
ture."
CROP YEAR FOR BARLEY
Another point of discussion Cardiff
had with the agriculture minister was
the issue of the crop year for barley
ending July 31.
"I had asked the Minister if there was
any chance of changing that date to July
1 - to an earlier time.
"Two or three years ago, the barley
all came off in July - then stabilization
was paid for the barley produced that
year. The person that marketed his
barley and sold it before the end of July
was not eligible for stabilization be-
cause that was the previous crop year.
"I've asked the Minister - and written
to him - but there doesn't seem much
chance of having that date changed. So
I've asked if there was a possible chance
to have a signed affadavit stating that
the barley was produced that year. Now
whether they go along with that or not, I
don't know. If it's produced that year, it
should qualify."
PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS
Cardiff has his reservations about Bill
C-32, uie bill un plant breeder's rights.
He would like some assurance that the
public sector would have the oppor-
tunity to grow and improve new plant
varieties. The bill has been introduced