An agricultural dictator
For those of you who didn’t get to see Robert Irving’s powerpoint presentation before the Legislative Committee on Communities, Land and the Environment on Thursday, I can tell you it was enlightening; enlightening in as much as he made it crystal clear what he wants.
He wants bigger farms with access to the water his growers need to get larger yields. And he wants the Island legislature to change an important piece of legislation to accommodate him. In a word, he wants to be the agricultural dictator of the Island.
His clearly-stated objective is to push the Island even farther in the direction of industrial agriculture where the nature of rural culture is determined, not by what it takes to produce a healthy rural society, but by the size of industrial machinery and the tyranny of industrial technology. And, of course, by his own corporate bottom line.
He said it plainly: Island farms are not large enough to compete with the big boys in places like Washington and Idaho, and at one point he commented that on P.E.I. it takes five workers to do what two workers can do in Washington. It’s just the latest refrain of the “get big or get out” ballad that began with Premier Alex Campbell’s development plan in the 1970s, and the inevitable conclusion to the process will be the elimination of virtually all Island potato farmers.
Irving poses as the friend of Island farmers but says he believes farms need to be twice as large, hoping I suppose, that no one would put two and two together and realize that if farms are twice as big there will be room only for half as many farmers.
The farmers will continue to decrease, and the Irvings to increase.
Robert Irving doesn’t like potato farmers, he uses them. Without batting an eye, he was advocating changes that would eliminate many of them. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
The only reason he endures farmers at all is because of the Lands Protection Act which prevents him from owning the entire industry outright; an act he wants changed because it doesn’t suit the way he does business.
Angus MacLean’s cherished view was that, on this small Island, small is beautiful, and can be productive. Robert Irving’s mantra is “the bigger the better,” a philosophy that has eliminated close to 10,000 Island farmers in my lifetime. And when will enough be enough? Never. And there were two other aspects of the presentation that I especially disliked. One was infuriating, and the other just sad. What was infuriating being that Irving decided, after just a few questions, that it was time for him and his supporting cast to vacate. Apparently, there was something else more important than answering questions from the likes of Brad Trivers and Peter Bevan-Baker. Did he recognize, I wonder, that they were there representing Islanders, and that it was the people of P.E.I. he was walking out on? Unless there was a funeral to attend, I think it’s called arrogance.
What was sad was that one of those who left with Robert was John MacQuarrie, an Island environmentalist. I’m sure he has his reasons for teaming up with the Irvings, and probably means well, but I found it difficult to watch as he provided an environmental veneer for his boss’s crassness and double-speak.
It will also be difficult to watch when Wade MacLauchlan responds to questions about today’s presentation, and essentially supports everything Irving said. And that surely is the biggest question in all of this: when Robert Irving speaks does our premier listen?
I have watched this process unfold for over 40 years, and I grieve for the land, and for freedom, for both are at stake. But when it comes to the Irvings, more than grief is required, and the time is short.
David Weale is a co-founder of Vision P.E.I.