Editorial
Ontario Election 2003

Agriculture and agri-food in Ontario is the number two sector in the provincial economy employing over 600,000 people and generating more than $22 billion. But “agriculture” doesn’t command very many votes, nor therefore much political clout at either the provincial or federal level. Because we live agriculture every day, we think it is important; to many others, it isn’t. Representing less than 2% of the population, the 40,000 - 60,000 farm families in the province (depends on who does the counting and how) represent less than one half of the population of one electoral riding. If you count only commercial farmers who earn the majority of their income from the business of farming (but generate more than 70% of total production), these 4,000 or so commercial farms are of even less political significance in the overall scheme of things.

Farmers contribute mightily to the rural economy, rural social structure, and rural environment to be sure; but when it comes to votes, we have a problem with limited numbers. We contribute mightily to the well-being of every citizen of Ontario, to their health, environment, and enjoyment of the landscape; but when it comes to votes, we don’t count for very many.

In Huron County, the number one agricultural county in Ontario and home riding of the Minister of Agriculture in the most recent provincial government, more than half of all voters live west of Highway 21! To those not familiar with provincial geography, highway 21 runs the length of the county on its western edge, but hugs the Lake Huron shore being not more than perhaps 2 miles inland for much of the County, and usually much closer to the water. There are more voters in that strip of land between the highway and lake than spread across all the rest of the County. The rest of the County is dominated by agriculture; the strip of land to the west of Highway 21 is dominated by homes and cottages.

Provincial polling results say voters in that strip of land to the west of Highway 21 are likely to be concerned about many issues other than agriculture. A recent poll ranks the economy highest in priority (14% of those questioned ranked the economy as the most important issue in this election), followed by health care (13%), education (10%), energy (9%).

Agriculture does not appear on their radar screen, yet those Huron voters west of Highway 21 live in the number one agricultural county in Ontario. This same poll suggests that issues where agriculture does have direct impact on the lives of urbanites have slipped in importance. For example, only 1% say the environment is an important issue in this election.

How then to make our voice count? We in agriculture have another problem. We tend to vote party allegiances, not issues.

We tend to vote for one or other of the parties because our father did, or our grandfather did. To have any hope of influencing electoral outcomes now or in the future, agriculture needs to start voting issues, not party ties. We need to understand our own businesses very well, know in detail the issues that affect us, and develop a plan to resolve those issues. We need to assess and compare proposals offered by the various parties. We then have to vote for the proposal and party offering the best opportunity to improve our situation, even if that means we vote for a party for the first time in our lives. Until we consistently vote issues and not party allegiances, agriculture will continue to be taken for granted and safely overlooked on the broader provincial political decision-making scene.

Because we in agriculture may overestimate our own significance, we tend to talk to politicians about our problems. We think that our problems will be easily recognized and identified as their problems. Wrong. Everyone has their own problems to solve. We need to talk to politicians and bureaucrats about solutions to their problems, not our own. If we have a solution that solves a problem for them, and of course also happens to work well for us, we become more meaningful. We become part of the solution, not part of the problem.

The OCPA has prepared this issue of the Corn Producer magazine with the 2003 Ontario election in mind. In May, the OCPA published our short, medium, and long-term goals and objectives (check our website to view them). To achieve those goals, we developed a set of policies and solutions dealing with four main issues: Safety Nets, Ethanol/Bioproducts, Water Quality & Nutrient Management, and Research. We have printed these four Issue Papers in the center of this magazine.

Remove all four and keep them handy when talking to local candidates. Study the Papers. Know the Issues. Talk to your candidates. Vote for the party that offers the best solutions. If you agree with the OCPA’s goals, policies, and solutions, vote for the party you consider most closely aligned with the proposals put forward in our four Issue Papers.

Although another solution to the limited number of votes agriculture can muster might be to “vote early and vote often”, the OCPA considers an informed vote to be the best vote. An informed voting block is a powerful constituency.
Vote the issues, not the party tie.