Ontario’s political leaders pitch farmers on province’s future

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The next general election won't be held for eight months but Ontario's political leaders are already pulling on their boots and walking through thick mud to promise farmers that their party has the best plan for the province's future.

A stop by Premier Kathleen Wynne and the leaders of Ontario's two opposition parties at the International Plowing Match on Tuesday had all the hallmarks of a campaign event. While the agricultural festival is a regular stop on the province's political calendar, the match takes on added importance in the months before an election as each leader spends a day more than 150 kilometres west of the legislature in Toronto to speak with a crowd of farmers in baseball caps and blue jeans.

With Ms. Wynne's Liberals trailing in the polls and her personal approval rating hovering in the low teens, the Premier spent the morning at the festival in the hamlet of Walton promising rural voters that her Liberals were standing up for farmers during the renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement.

"I have consistently made it clear that agriculture in Ontario is an important part of our economy and we are going to stand up for Ontario agriculture as we go through these NAFTA negotiations," Ms. Wynne told an audience that has been unfriendly in the past but was largely free of jeering on Tuesday.

"Our government is firmly on your side," added Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal as he took the stage after the Premier. "Supply management, when it comes to NAFTA, is a non-negotiable item."

A much-anticipated annual event at the festival where the province's political leaders climb onto tractors and try to plow the straightest furrow was cancelled due to rain and mud, as was the opening parade.

Facing fury from some farmers over the government's plan to increase minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2019, Ms. Wynne indicated that she was considering a concession to farmers but declined to elaborate on her plan.

After watching the Premier's speech, John Cofell said he didn't plan on voting for the Liberals next year. "She may have deserved a few more boos," he said of the appearance. "I think they may have been frisking people to make sure there weren't any eggs in the audience," his wife Jennifer joked.

The couple own a small farm near Windsor and they say they've struggled due to the province's push for green power. They say the 260 wind turbines around their farm have caused issues with water quality, TV signals and a myriad of health concerns for locals. They've also watched as their electricity bills have increased quickly, echoing a concern across rural Ontario.

"The hydro thing is just going to kill her. It's a mess," Mr. Cofell said of soaring electricity rates, despite a new program to rebate a quarter of bills.

While the crowd was sparse during the overcast first day of the festival, there was a carnival-like atmosphere as fair-goers took in speeches and inspected some of the newest agricultural technology. Located on 1,000 acres of farmland south of the Bruce Peninsula, the festival is also a rare moment when the rural population is the focus of the province's politics.

However, it comes at a time when Ontario's rural population continues to shrink. Ontario has fewer than 50,000 farms, according to a 2016 census, a number that has dropped by nearly 27 per cent over the past two decades. The total area of land farmed has also dropped by a million acres over the same time.

With his Progressive Conservatives riding high in the polls and hoping to form government next summer, Patrick Brown promised to stand up for rural Ontario and said his party would work to bring down hydro prices and make the minimum wage hikes more palatable.

Mr. Brown told the audience that the province's farmers are "worried" after 14 years of Liberal government and he offered the best change. "Now more than ever we need a strong farming sector and we need that farming sector to have a voice in decision-making," he said.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath faulted the Liberals for allowing schools to close in thinly populated rural areas while increasing the cost of raising a family.