Something is amiss out in farm country. There’s a general sense of malaise at being unrecognized, unappreciated and overlooked.
There’s a growing resentment against officialdom, of finding a bureaucrat at every turn trying to lay down some law or other with little or no appreciation of the ramifications.
And there’s mounting resistance which is showing itself in many ways, most notably in a series of roadside protests which started on the western edge of rural Ottawa and which is, week by week, marching its way downtown. April 8 has been set by organizers for a massive gathering in the Nation’s Capital.
Many are calling it a rural revolution. If it walks like one, talks like one and quacks like one... it’s a revolution. It involves tractors not tanks, farmers not soldiers and pamphlets not missiles... but it’s a revolution all the same.
As of March 27, there had been three protest instalments leading up to the grand finale, each growing in numbers, catchment area and militancy. While participants haven’t actually blocked traffic with their afternoon rural rallies, they’ve slowed it to a crawl while handing to mostly supportive motorists literature describing various burrs under the collective saddle of farmers and other landowners.
Not surprisingly, these "information pickets" have been organized by the Lanark Landowners Association in its growing "fight for democracy’s return". Under the tough-talking guidance of president Randy Hillier, a Carleton Place bushlot owner, the LLA continues to show a strong taste for disturbing the manure.
Known for organizing an illegal deer cull last year and for blockading MNR offices in Kemptville, the LLA has acted as a lightning rod for mounting anger in the rural east end of the province.
One of the most aggressive and eloquent rural leaders to step out of the back 40 in years, Hillier says the revolution is fed by dissatisfaction in the wake of constant intervention by bureaucrats in the agricultural and rural way of life.
The clearest signal the revolution is on, he says, is the growing number of crowded meetings and other protests - including the pickets - being staged in Renfrew and Lanark counties, where participants are venting their anger about everything from helplessness in the BSE crisis, to costly property tax reassessment.
There’s something about Lanark/Renfrew that either breeds or attracts folks that don’t have a lot of trouble speaking their minds, people like Hillier and MP Cheryl Gallant, who’s backing the battle all the way.
"We’re fighting for our livelihoods," Gallant says. "Rural Canada is under continual assault in this province and in our nation. Over-regulation hurts our farmers, small sawmill owners, campground owners, maple syrup producers and our foresters... to name a few."
In addition to BSE and taxes, hot-button topics include municipal amalgamation and "loss of democratic representation", the MOE crackdown on family-operated sawmills, MOE enforcement of the Nutrient Management Act, ramifications of Species at Risk legislation, MNR "mismanagement" of wildlife, firearm registration, buffer zones which deny the use of private property, and mining legislation which "strips away rights and privacy".
Speaking of amalgamation, residents of Ottawa’s former independent townships have launched the Rural Council, represented 500 strong at a meeting March 24. The objective? De-amalgamation.
And guess who was front and centre with his support? None other than Randy Hillier, welcoming the crowd to the rural revolution.
The question remains: What took the revolutionaries so long to launch the revolution?
The answer may lie in a recent commentary from the OFA’s Ron Bonnett, in which he refers to the ingrained optimism and confidence that farmers traditionally have in the future of the industry.
Echoing the LLA, Bonnett quickly adds that optimism and confidence are being eroded by increasing input costs, regulations, poor margins, and demands of consumers for high quality at a low price. And let’s not forget such recent pressures as BSE and a higher dollar.
"I have never seen such a high level of frustration and anger among farmers as I see now," Bonnett says.
Could it be only a matter of time before the revolution goes province-wide?
Could be, says Hillier who’s heading to Halton Region April 2 to help folks there organize their own landowners’ association.
From the Archives:
Op / Ed, April 2004
