ROEBUCK — Farmers who were among about 50 people who showed up for a provincial all-candidates meeting in Leeds-Grenville last month were generally optimistic about government. Farmers Forum asked them: “Do you have confidence that our governments — local, provincial and federal — are working for you and the common good?”
Above: Derrek Skuce, Kim Sytsma, Adrian Wynands and Al Whitlam.
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Derrek Skuce
“I think we have a lot of things to overcome that date back all the way to the early ‘90s, from free trade and the environmental laws coming in. We never overcame all of that. It killed our manufacturing. It killed everything. And now with climate change thrown on top of it, you can’t fix everything. We need to make some changes, to try and get some stuff back locally and going again. Right here in our township, we have one of the biggest nitrogen-producing facilities, but it’s closed because of environmental laws and free trade.”
Derrek Skuce
Mixed farming
Roebuck, Ont.
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Kim Sytsma
“That’s a trick question. I think they think they are. I’ve been on council before, and I think everybody who runs, or at least I hope everybody who runs for some elected office … I’m hop- ing they do it because they want to make things better for some- body. My grandfather raised me that if you don’t like something, to get out there and change it. It doesn’t mean you can, but get out there and try.”
Kim Sytsma
Beef farmer
Athens, Ont.
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Adrian Wynands
“I still have confidence in our whole system. I think sometimes their priorities aren’t as much into agriculture as it is into other sectors, and agriculture is the number one industry in Ontario. And I think they tend to forget that. They tend to go for auto and specialized things. One of the biggest things that has come through now is the increased price of fertilizer, and putting a tariff on Russian fertilizer is supposed to hurt Russia, but they’re passing that onto the companies, and the companies are passing that onto farmers … so who does it hurt? “The other thing is the price of diesel fuel. We either need a biodiesel plant or a nitrogen plant. The pandemic should have taught the government you can’t be dependent on other countries for your vaccines, but you also can’t depend on them for your inputs.”
Adrian Wynands
Dairy farmer
Cardinal, Ont.
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Al Whitlam
“No, I do not. Why? I’m representing six of my neighbours here, and since 1994-95 we’ve been telling (government) about Wiltse Creek and the Smith-Bolger drain, plugging up, backing up. We’ve worked with the Catarqui Conservation Authority, we’ve worked with (Conservative MP) Steve Clark and we’ve asked what are you going to do about it? In 2012, there was a study with three engineers that said it needed to be cleaned out and all we get is, ‘We’ll see what we can do. We’ve gotta have another study.’ “How many more studies do you need to know that water runs downhill?”
Al Whitlam
Sheep farmer
Lansdowne, Ont.
