Here is a request to Premier Notley – could you allow your Minister of Agriculture, Oneil Carlier, to actually speak freely to farmers and ranchers at agriculture events? I mean allow him to express some real views on issues of the day and some insights into the future of the industry instead of the dreary regurgitation of mindless statistics about agriculture in Alberta and the rehashing of old news which have become the standard fare of so many of his speeches. Your bedraggled columnist has had to endure many of these mind-numbing exercises in verbal boilerplate. I desperately request that the Minister get a speech writer who has some creative ability beyond telling the audience what they already know. Just because some statistic or marketing activity is new and fascinating to a neophyte city-bred staffer in the Minister's office doesn't mean that fascination needs to be told to folks who create the statistics. These sorts of speeches by the Minister are becoming an insult to the intelligence of the producers and industry stakeholders. The message all this repetitive boilerplate is creating is that the Minister is being told what to say and just doesn't have a passion for the industry. Many folks have stated that in private conversation the Minister is much more aware and engaged. As you may expect, there is more to the story and it goes back to previous agricultural ministers.
I have seen at least nine Agriculture Ministers come and go – their average survival rate is around 2.5 years. That creates real problems – firstly, due to its vast diversity and intricate politics, agriculture is the toughest cabinet portfolio for any new minister to get a grip on. The new folks in charge favour more central control run by political staffers and strategists in the Premier's office. That means ministerial statements, speeches, media releases and policy initiatives are carefully vetted by political operatives in the Premier's office and managed through surrogates like Ministers' chiefs of staff. Many ag industry stakeholders have at times wondered who the real Minister of Agriculture is. Much of this explains why the Minister reads such dreary speeches at ag events – they seem to be written and vetted by folks with little connection to the industry. None of this helps the Ag Minister's credibility and image in the agricultural and rural community.
I suppose it's easy to make light of the boilerplate speeches of the Ag Minister and perhaps somewhat unfair as it seems he is just reading words created by political assistants but if the Premier is not going to set the Minister free to speak his mind then perhaps his speech writers could at least have him speak on issues that are more relevant to his audience. Before grinding out the usual platitudes, tired anecdotes, mindless statistics, and old news - call some of the ag producer groups' managers and communication folks. Ask them what issues, trends and worries they would like the Minister to speak about. For instance – what is the Minister's view on irradiation and what is he willing to do to promote this huge food safety step? The topic is a lot more interesting than another mindless speech about the contribution of agriculture to the Alberta economy. Well at least we can hope.