(OTTAWA) – Tonight the leaders of Canada’s political parties will engage in the first of four debates for the federal election. Tonight will be a key opportunity for the leaders to show that agriculture is an important issue for them and their parties. It will also be their first opportunity to make up for their failure to address agriculture issues in the debates of the last election.

“We’ve had nearly three weeks of election campaigning. Three weeks of campaign events and policy announcements. Farmers haven’t heard anyone speak to them or their issues yet,” said Bob Friesen, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. “We won’t tolerate another cold shoulder like we got last year.”

The questions for the debates in this election are being selected by media representatives from questions submitted by Canadians. Last week CFA issued a call to all Canadian farmers to submit questions.

“I know they have a pool of questions from farmers, and I hope our national media are responsible enough to select one or two to put to the leaders,” said Friesen. “But even if they aren’t, I know there will be questions that will still offer the leaders an opportunity to show they understand the challenges facing our industry, and are committed to addressing them.”

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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.