Leaders stress cooperation
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 2, 2002
(WINDSOR) - Three prominent Canadian politicians yesterday stressed the importance of working in cooperation with Canada's farm organizations. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) opened its 2002 Semi-Annual Meeting with addresses from federal Conservative Leader Joe Clark, Ontario Agriculture Minister Helen Johns and MP Bob Speller, Chair of the Prime Minister's Caucus Task Force on Future Opportunities in Farming.
In their remarks, all three leaders emphasized the importance of working alongside CFA and provincial farm organizations.
Conservative Leader Joe Clark acknowledged the crisis currently facing Canadian farmers, particularly in his home drought-stricken province of Alberta. Mr. Clark addressed the need to raise agricultural awareness among urban Canadians, who are becoming disconnected from the source of their food supply. The former Prime Minister stressed the need for strong federal government support for the industry. "In a world of drought, and pestilence, and the subsidies of the United States and the European Union, agriculture must be a priority of a national government," stated Clark. "Canadian farmers need a policy framework that moves beyond ad-hoc assistance programs."
Minister Johns echoed these sentiments in her welcoming remarks and stressed the importance of getting the recently-announced federal assistance funds into the hands of farmers as quickly as possible. She also underlined the need to design national safety nets programs with the flexibility to reflect the unique needs of individual provinces.
MP Bob Speller spoke on behalf of Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief who could not attend because of trade meetings in Japan. Mr. Speller talked about his experiences working with CFA and its members. He spoke about the federal Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) and the need to move ahead now, in cooperation with industry, to put the flesh of the programs onto the skeleton framework signed at the federal-provincial ministers' meeting in Halifax in June.
CFA delegates were pleased to have these individuals attend the Semi-Annual Meeting, and to have the opportunity to put questions to them. "I can't stress enough the value of exchanges like this," said Bob Friesen, CFA President. "If we are to build good agriculture policy, farmers must hear directly from the top decision-makers, and those decision-makers must hear directly what is on the minds of Canadian farmers."
The CFA Semi-Annual Meeting runs August 1-2, following two days of committee meetings which addressed such topics as safety net program design, environment, rural and trade issues. In addition to the opening speakers, CFA delegates also heard from Paul Burke of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, who offered the Michigan perspective on the U.S. Farm Bill.
Today delegates will hear from representatives of Statistics Canada on the 2001 Census of Agriculture and of Industry Canada on the federal government's innovation strategy. There will be a lunchtime panel discussion on environmental issues featuring speakers from Greenpeace Canada and the World Wildlife Fund Canada.
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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.
Contact:
Kieran Green, CFA Communications Coordinator, (613) 236-3633, info@cfafca.ca
Bob Friesen, CFA President, (204) 724-0824 (cell)
Brigid Rivoire, CFA Executive Director, (613) 236-3633 / (613) 715-3113 (cell)
