An abiding love of Canadian agriculture

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This article was published 21/01/2015 (4229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From horses to huge combines with GPS and satellite technology, former federal agriculture minister Charlie Mayer has seen it all.

Mayer, who now lives in the RM of St. Francois Xavier, began his love affair with farming on his family’s farm near Hawarden, Sask., about 50 miles south of Saskatoon. At 78, he remains interested in Canadian agriculture and is proud of his role in the industry, which he considers the most important in our economy.

“It’s a disease I’ve never recovered from,” he joked in reference to his passion for agriculture.

“Farming is so sophisticated now,” he added. “And so few people know what’s
going on in agriculture.”

Mayer stopped farming in 1996 when he sold his property near Carberry, Man. where he’d grown grain and potatoes and had a cattle operation for almost 30 years. During that time, he served as MP for Portage-Marquette (later Lisgar-Marquette) from 1979 to 1993. He was appointed Minister of State for the Canadian Wheat Board in 1984 and for Grains and Oilseeds in 1987.

During this time, he worked to have oats grown in western Canada removed from the Wheat Board’s authority; a job he accomplished in January 1989. Mayer said this allowed domestic oat processing to grow, and cited Portage la Prairie’s Can-Oat Milling Products, started in 1991 and now owned by Richardson International, as an example.

As part of his responsibility for the Wheat Board, Mayer travelled around the world and signed long-term trade deals that allowed countries such as the former Soviet Union and China to import wheat and barley grown by western Canadian farmers.

“We signed long-term agreements with financing,” he said.

These deals, guaranteed by Canada’s federal government, provided a stable customer base for the Wheat Board while international grain prices fluctuated, driven by supply and demand.
Mayer was also Minister of Western Economic Diversification for four years. He said business owners applying for WED grants had to meet strict criteria in order to obtain funding. In most cases, the grants paid off as the new businesses succeeded and helped to increase employment.

He also participated on the Canadian team of negotiators involved in the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which led to the formation of the World Trade Organization in 1995, and the Canada/United States Free Trade Agreement that was signed in 1987.

Since leaving federal politics, Mayer has been on the board of various organizations such as CARE Canada, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (formerly the Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation, prior to its amalgamation with another entity), and Manitoba Cattle Producers Association. He is now involved with FoodChek Systems, a food safety testing company.

Despite his former role as a politician, Mayer said he firmly believes that the economy benefits from less government regulation.

“We need to get government out of the way,” he said.

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