The Rural Voice, 1985-12, Page 21Farmers join forces
by Gertie Blake
For the second time in four mon-
ths, farmers from across Ontario
gathered to lobby government. But
the rally in front of St. Thomas city
hall November 9 was the first time
that eight farm organizations have
united in a single cause. The rally was
to back demands that federal
Minister of Agriculture John Wise
reinstate the Farmers' Creditors Ar-
rangements Act and declare a
moratorium on farm foreclosures un-
til the act becomes law.
The rally was sponsored by the
Liaison Committee of Ontario Farm
Organizations (LCOFO), which is a
coalition of eight major farm groups
including the National Farmers
Union, the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture, Women for the Support
of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers
Federation of Ontario, the Canadian
Farmers Survival Association, Con-
cerned Farm Women, the Catholic
Rural Life Conference, and Women
for the Survival of Agriculture. The
LCOFO originally presented its
demands to Wise and Ontario
Minister of Agriculture Jack Riddell
at the International Plowing Match
on September 17. When no response
came from the ministers within the
two-week deadline, the farm groups
sent out a call to their members to
demonstrate their support for the
demands.
About 700 farmers responded by
gathering in John Wise's home
riding, standing in the cold drizzle to
await the response of the minister.
When Wise appeared, he did not ad-
dress their specific demands; instead
he announced that he was working
with the Minister of Consumer and
Commercial Affairs toward making
changes to the Bankruptcy Act.
John Langlois, chairman of the
LCOFO, proceeded to take the
government to task, although he
assured Wise that his remarks were
not a personal attack. Langlois ques-
tioned how the government could
support banks with more than a
billion dollars while letting farmers
go broke. He challenged statistics
that he said show a false picture of
the farm crisis.
The tone of the rally had been set
earlier when the farm men, women,
and children, led by moderator Maria
van Bommel, joined together in say-
ing a prayer for farmers. In her
remarks van Bommel gave words of
support and encouragement. "We are
united, and we will not be
conquered."
Langlois later picked up the tone
set by van Bommel by calling for 30
seconds of silence to commemorate
all those farmers who had already left
farming because of bankruptcy,
foreclosure, or just giving up.
Brian Ireland, a farmer in the
Teeswater area, told the crowd his
personal story of negotiations,
frustrations, and disappointment. He
called for farmers to unite as never
before in preventing foreclosures.
"If the Farmers' Creditors Ar-
rangements Act is not reinstated,
then we are going to have to act."
The action he called for was enforc-
ing the foreclosure moratorium
through means such as farm -gate
defense.
Ireland predicted that if the situa-
tion does not improve there will be
bloodshed in rural Ontario and rural
Canada.
As if responding to a cue, the bell
in the city hall tower tolled
twelve.❑GB
3
UI 1 \1k1 k 1,), 19