Dearth of Plowing Match protests dire for Wynne

The skies opened, as they say, on the first day of the annual International Plowing Match and Rural Expo near Walton, north of London last week.

Reports of up to five centimetres of rain in the area seemed about right to visitors slipping and sliding in mud.

It’s almost as if Mother Nature decided to save locals the trouble of organizing a protest for Ontario political leaders making rare appearances in farm country.

Traditionally the IPM is one rural event politicians like. They get their picture taken doing farm things such as driving tractors, and then hustle back to their limos to get out of Dodge quickly.

Tented City was such a muddy mess Sept. 19 and 20 that no political tractor driving was possible.

Premier Kathleen Wynne was roundly jeered when she appeared at last year’s match near Harrison, mostly over the huge increases in power rates in the province.

The absence of protests this year might be because power rates have been reduced in the short term. (The difference will be made up in spades down the road, but that’s a separate issue.)

Although that’s one possible explanation for a slightly warmer welcome, crowds were small and people were more interested in escaping the mud than protecting themselves from poverty-inducing electricity bills.

In spite of the absence of protesters, there were no signs Wynne’s popularity has improved in rural areas.

The premier repeated the mantra she has been spouting since taking over the big chair at Queen’s Park: “I’m here because agriculture is so important. No matter the party lines, it is important that we support each other.”

Since there is scant evidence this government has taken any action to actually walk the talk in regards to agriculture and rural Ontario, the absence of negative reactions to Wynne’s visit might be more ominous than they appear.

Countless rural Ontarians have given up on this government and can’t wait until next June’s election to express their displeasure.

Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, the NDP’s Andrea Horwath and Green Leader Mike Schreiner also attended the plowing match.

Schreiner, doing his best one-trick pony routine, said the soggy IPM fields were the result of climate change. Climate change or no climate change, obviously he wasn’t around when rubber boot salespeople were the most successful vendors at the IPM in a number of past years.

The provincial politicians weren’t the only ones to grace the annual rural event with their presence.

Mother Nature provided humidity and hot sun later in the week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dropped in with his family.

Trudeau was able to cut what was described as a relatively straight furrow with a tractor and plow.

Although there is a lot of fear in the rural community about Trudeau’s tax proposals, it’s difficult to get a read on attitudes during the visit.

It was a brief visit, allowing match attendees to get back to the important things in life, such as finding ice cream vendors and lining up in oppressive heat to hear Canadian country music star George Canyon.