Opinion: Farmers can play a role in staving off political stupidity

Glacier FarmMedia – When democracy works, politicians of all stripes have lots of opportunities to stave off stupidity.

This is the sort of policy stupidity they might commit when in power if they weren’t clued in to the nightmarish consequences of their actions.

To help with that, farm and other organizations work hard to provide those simple slaps-to-the-head that politicians need as an incentive to avoid the (to them) good-sounding policy promises and actions that could wreak havoc in the real world. I can think of three examples before us today.

At the Manitoba Pork regional meeting in Niverville earlier this month, farmers and industry people could take a gander at the organization’s Report to the Legislature, which lays out hog farmers’ contributions to the provincial economy and employment, as well as its efforts on animal welfare, environmental protection, water quality and other high visibility issues.

As general manager Cam Dahl pointed out, the time to be talking with politicians on the left, right and centre is now, before an election campaign begins. The vital importance of hog farming to Manitoba’s economy needs to be understood by all politicians before a campaign and before the next government comes in, which could be within a year.

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It was the flip side of Kim Campbell’s correct but ridiculed 1993 election campaign comment that “an election is no time to discuss serious issues.” It sounds bad, and it was dumb to say it like that, but she was right: during the hurly burly of an election campaign, nobody’s going to be discussing anything complicated. It’s going to be all pithy quotes and flashy promises.

The tricky work of governing happens after a victorious campaign. However, for farmers and other citizens and industries, it can be too late by then to head off the biases and stupidities that politicians and parties sometimes haul into office. 

The time to redirect the train is before the election passes the junction and before the polls are steaming down the tracks in a dangerous direction.

The Manitoba hog industry knows all about this. Its expansion and success were championed by the Gary Filmon Progressive Conservative government of the 1990s, which helped make it seem like an enemy to many in the New Democratic Party base. When the NDP came into power, progressively more restrictive and punitive policies were imposed on hog farms until an outright moratorium was imposed on almost all possible hog barn construction projects. 

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This pleased many environmentalists, who believed the hog industry was responsible for Lake Winnipeg’s problems, treated pigs badly and hurt small farms.

The industry stagnated and the future seemed bleak, a situation from which it has slowly been extricating itself under the friendly administration of the current PC government. There are signs of growth.

The last thing hog farmers, processors and thousands of workers need is to have the hog industry become a political football again. The time to defuse this potential bomb is today, before the next election comes. The hog industry shouldn’t be controversial. It’s up to the industry to make sure it stays beneath the political radar.

Similar work is being done by farm organizations to make sure the federal Liberal government’s carbon tax and climate change actions don’t undermine the ability of Canadian farmers to compete in the world markets, where most of their income arises.

It’s hard to say where the Liberals will go with their carbon emissions restrictions. The party is a big tent, containing many pro-business and pro-industry people, many pro-environment and pro-sustainability people, and a broad middle that wants to balance it all.

The government wants to reduce carbon emissions, but it also wants to boost Canadian exports and expand the economy. The two goals don’t easily fit together.

The aspiration of the government to reduce total carbon emissions (as opposed to per bushel intensity) from fertilizer isn’t yet a concrete plan, so now is the time to influence the policy of the future, and numerous farm representatives are trying to do that. It will certainly be easier to affect that plan now, before the government has done anything stupid that it can’t back away from. Lots of smart people inside and outside government are trying to think of ways to balance the conflicting needs. The time to work with them is now.

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I don’t know if any farm organizations are working with new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on his wacky views about Bank of Canada independence or cryptocurrencies. That’s outside their usual scope.

But farmers should be hoping the new Tory boss backs away from this silliness. One of the great strengths of Canada as a place to farm, to do business, to operate an industry is its dull stability.

Maintaining the Bank of Canada’s independence and eschewing the flash-in-the-pan attractiveness of cryptocurrencies helps Canada stay dull and dependable.

Canada isn’t a banana republic. Keeping it that way should be a priority for Poilievre and he needs to understand that now, before he gets a chance to be prime minister.

Governments don’t want to do stupid things. They like to have successes to celebrate, not disasters to excuse. Most in the bureaucracy mean well. Most politicians want to be heroes who make things better.

Waiting for governments to do stupid things and then complaining about them doesn’t do much good, even if it’s entertaining. Helping them do the right things and achieve dull competence should be something all farmers want, regardless of who’s in charge.

– This article was originally published at The Western Producer.