(OTTAWA) – It has been announced that the questions posed to the national party leaders in the four debates to be held in this election will be chosen from question submitted by Canadians. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is calling on Canadian farmers to submit agriculture-related questions to ensure agriculture and rural issues are not ignored as they were during the debates in the last election.

The email address to submit questions is: question@electiondebate.ca

Questions for the first English debate, to be held December 16 in Vancouver, are being accepted up until tomorrow, December 6.

“This time the questions our national leaders will have to answer will come, not from journalists, but from average Canadians,” said Bob Friesen, CFA President. “Over 300,000 of those average Canadians are farm operators, and millions more are directly impacted by the agri-food industry, and they have questions they want answered.”

Based on its four election themes - supporting farmer-driven farm policy, trade, farm incomes, and supporting farmers who provide a public good - the CFA will submit the following four questions for the debate:

1)      Given that current national agriculture policy has not worked as effectively as hoped for in addressing issues like farm incomes, how would you and your party work with Canadian farmers and farm organizations to develop new farm policy?

2)      What is your party’s strategy for ensuring Canada’s agricultural trade interests – expanding market access, lowering global export subsidies, and preserving our right to maintain domestic marketing systems like supply management and the Canadian Wheat Board - are met in WTO talks?

3)      What ideas does your party have for helping farmers come out of the long-term farm income crisis and once again find profitability in the marketplace, and what short-and medium term assistance would your party provide to ensure farmers get there?

4)      What policies would your party implement to ensure farmers are not forced to bear alone the costs of providing value-added public benefits like environmental stewardship and food safety initiatives?

CFA is also organizing a separate national debate on agriculture which will feature the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and opposition party agriculture ciritics.

-30-

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.