Byelections are interesting because they don’t carry the same baggage as a general election, when candidates are more controlled by defined party policy.
They also provide a chance for agriculture to reach the top of the agenda in regions where it dominates.
I live in the north corner of the sprawling Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding, where a provincial byelection is now being contested. The election is May 2.
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Popular MPP Monte McNaughton resigned his seat last fall, opening the riding he was expected to continue to win.
At about the same size as Prince Edward Island, the riding covers a significant portion of agricultural land, so farm groups are hosting all-candidates meetings.
The first was held April 11 in Alvinston, with a much bigger crowd than expected at about 200 people, including many farmers. It was hosted by the Lambton, Kent and Middlesex federations of agriculture.
Byelections are less predictable and come at increased expense to political parties. The resources put into byelections are special, compared to when funding has to be split among ridings across the province during a general election.
In this case, MPPs from various parties have already visited the riding and new Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie has knocked on doors with candidate Cathy Burghardt-Jesson.
Two new schools were announced for the riding by the Conservative education minister the day before the byelection was called, and Premier Doug Ford campaigned with Conservative candidate Steve Pissoneault.
Conservatives have been the worst transgressors in skipping all-candidates debates in recent elections. Pissoneault was was there in Alvinston, as he really had to be, but he skipped three more all-candidates debates, including one just up the road from his campaign office in Dresden. Electors need to call out candidates who skip these chances for debate and accountability.
Liberal and NDP candidates and those from the None of the Above Party, New Blue and the Ontario Party were present. The fun of being part of a party with no hope of winning is that you can say almost anything you want.
The debate questions were mostly connected to agriculture, including farmland uses.
The bottom line is that none of the candidates are that closely connected to agriculture and it showed in their answers. There’s tremendous opportunity in agriculture and I’d love for someone to step out and say that in a political debate, and then offer smart policy to help support farmers and agriculture businesses.
I want them to say “agriculture is one of our most important strategic assets and here’s how we make it thrive even more than it is now”. (With a hat tip to Tyler McCann of the Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute and some of his recent thinking on agriculture as a strategic asset.)
