Talk recounts NFU protest
Ryan O’Connor will give a presentation entitled “The 1971 National Farmers Union Highway Demonstration” on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead in Orwell.
On August 12, 1971, hundreds of P.E.I. farmers boarded their tractors and proceeded to bring traffic to a halt on the province’s major roadways. Held during the peak of the tourism season, the demonstration continued for 10 days.
This talk examines the highway demonstration’s inspiration, context and consequences. The farmers were protesting the way the provincial government had neglected issues around family farms and the government’s lack of promotion of economic rationalization and modernization that had been set out in the government’s 1969 Comprehensive Development Plan.
O’Conner has a PhD in Canadian history, with expertise in the history of environmental activism, the Sixties, oral history, the history of recycling and Canadian politics.
The event will start with brunch at 11:30 a.m. followed by the presentation. The meal will be served in the room that once hosted Earl Grey, Lucy Maud Montgomery and John McCrea at the same time, as guests of Sir Andrew Macphail.
The cost is $25 ($20 for members and residents of Orwell and Kings County). Call the Macphail Homestead at 902651-2789 to make a reservation. The homestead is located at 271 Macphail Rd.