The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - They Helped Build Our Country -- Now They're Near The Front Lines Again.

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

Last night we focused on truckers and the key role they are playing -- there were developments on that today I'll talk about. But the main focus on the podcast today is on farmers who have been there for us since 1867, and they still are today. #thankafarmer

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here with the latest episode of The Bridge Daily. Good to talk to you again. Yesterday, many of you will remember that we talked about the importance of truckers in the country. And I'm happy to see that many of you responded to that. Wrote me emails. Truckers, truckers' families, people who care about truckers, and people who hadn't thought about truckers truckers families people who care about truckers and people who hadn't thought about truckers through the crisis that we're going through we're thinking about frontline health care workers as we should first responders as we should and we will every day mention them. They're the heroes of this story. But there are others who are important,

and truckers, as I pointed out yesterday, are one of them. That's how we keep the food supply chain going on. And they're traveling the country and crossing the border and going into the states as part of the movement of supplies, food supplies, back and forth across that border, in and out of this country. Now, I find it interesting because truckers came up as kind of a story today. After we'd given a sense of what they're doing yesterday,

it came up as a story, not related to the podcast at all. At least I don't think it was. But both in Ontario and BC, concern raised at the highest levels. Premier of Ontario being part of it today, Doug Ford. Concern being expressed that truckers who are dependent on being able to stop for food at restaurants, to use facilities, restrooms, on the highways. We're finding, as many people are, that restaurants are closing as a result of the situation.

And they're finding, truckers are finding, we're the main people on the roads right now on the big highways, that restaurants are closed, they can't get food. Restrooms are closed, and they need those. And the concern on both the Ontario and BC governments is we've got to fix that. We have to find a way to fix that because that can't be allowed. Truckers need our help. Not just our thanks, but our help right now. Now I also heard

last night and today from people who were saying, that's great that you talked about truckers. And we absolutely need to give our thanks to truckers. But there are other people too who aren't getting enough attention. And I should have known this because here I am in the heart of, you know, rural Ontario. Here in this area of southwestern Ontario,

we like to think we're kind of the heart of hog country. Now, a lot of different places in Canada make that claim, but we around the Stratford area like to make that claim as well. And we have a lot of great people involved in that business and other areas of the farming business in this part of the country. And it's farmers that people are saying, Mansbridge, you've got to thank farmers.

And so I thought, okay, we'll talk about that a little bit today because, you know, the farming story is one that this country is built on. And we tend to think, well, you know, there aren't as many farmers as there used to be. And there aren't. There are nowhere near as many as there used to be. But farming is still as important as it's ever been to Canada. And it's critical for us at this time. So let's think about them for a moment. And thinking about them starts with a little history lesson in terms of the importance of farming to Canada.

So when the country was born in 1867, there were 3.5 million people in Canada. And you know what? Half of them were involved in farming. Now that's come down dramatically. A hundred years ago, the numbers around 1920 showed 700,000 people involved in farming. The number of farms that existed in the country was just over 700,000.

Of a population of about 9 million. So now where are we with a population in the 35, 38 million range? We're at about 200,000 farms, or 200,000 families involved in farming in Canada. So those numbers have come way down. As the number of those involved has come down, the size of farms has gone up. Right? Those who stayed in farming, you know,

purchased the farms around them. The average size of a farm 100 years ago was, you know, 200 acres. Now it's 800 acres. And as I said a moment ago, the importance of farming, still as great as it ever was. So, $112 billion to farming adds to Canada's economy

in an average year. This at a time when the demand for safe food, already before this, was going up, and Canada produces safe food. Food processing. It's the largest manufacturing sector in Canada.

That all starts on the farm. Agriculture overall, in all its aspects, employs over 2 million Canadians. Farming is important. It's a critical part of the Canadian story. And as a result, we can't forget it. We tend to think, and I mentioned this a second ago, that there are, you know, people don't go into farming anymore. Farmers are older than they ever used to be.

And that's true. The average age is somewhere in the mid-50s now for Canadian farmers, when obviously it was much younger. somewhere in the mid-50s now for Canadian farmers. When obviously it was much younger, not that long ago. But young people, grown up in rural parts of the country, have said, you know what, I want to move into the city, or I want to go into tech, or I want to go into this, that, or the other. I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a doctor.

And they've moved away from the farming communities. And their parents carry on the tradition. For the most part. It's not totally that way. There are some young farmers out there too, but the average age for farmers has got older. But at the same time, farmers are, you know,

they're a lot different in their background too. You know, as a farmer in 1867 in Canada where half the people were working on farms, you probably didn't spend a lot of time growing up in the classroom. Things are, you know, they're different today. It's said that half of farm operators have a post-secondary education.

Now, what about right now? Farmers are facing the bind just like everybody else in the country as a result of COVID-19. And when I went on the website today of one of the better-known farming organizations, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, they're out there surveying their membership, trying to get a sense of where they are in terms of the COVID-19 situation, what they need, where they need help,

and where they could get help, what they're suffering from. So CFA can take to government and say, this is what's happening with our membership. Government has already responded in some degree with a major cash outflow to help farmers. I think it was $5 billion. That's a start. Because they are going to need help. And in one of the critical areas

they need help, because of this movement away from farming, over the years, and especially in the last decade or two, it's been temporary foreign workers who come into Canada, mostly from Central America, to help take, to do the farm work. And our country's farming community is dependent on those TFWs, as they call them, temporary foreign workers. So what's going to happen this summer?

What's going to happen this fall? Are the TFWs going to be able to come into Canada? Will they be able to get through the United States to get to Canada? And when they get to the border with Canada, if they get to the border, how are they going to get in? Because we've got all kinds of restrictions right now too, including on Canadians coming home. This is a big issue, and I see when I look through the surveys that a lot of farmers, Canadian farmers, are ticking off the TFW box saying,

we need help here. How's this going to work? Because without them, without temporary foreign workers, unless there's a sudden change of heart on the part of young Canadians to get out there and work on the farm for the summer, there's going to be a problem. But at the heart of this, the point I'm trying to make is we're totally dependent on farmers for our food supply, just like we are on truckers to move the food supply. So let's not forget farmers here.

They're critical too, to this story. They are a part of how we're going to get through this. So we'll do a hashtag, thank a farmer, on this day. It's part of our history.

It's part of our present. And it's part of our history, it's part of our present, and it's part of our future. So let's keep it in mind. Okay, one other thing I wanted to mention because a couple of you have written to me about it. On the weekend, I got involved, and I'm continuing to do so, in some public service announcements. I did one that was released last night, at least on digital, about staying at home during this situation. That's our part of trying to help right now. We're staying at home.

We're trying to protect not only ourselves, but our friends and neighbors. So that's why we're staying at home. So I did that in conjunction with the Canadian Red Cross and Labatt's, who are funding a new donation scheme for the Canadian Red Cross

to help with the work they're doing on handling the coronavirus. I'm also going to be doing one with a volunteering for another one, which is the major grocery chain, Sobeys. I'll be doing something with them as well, I think, tomorrow. And, you know, I can do all this from here, from inside the house, because I've built this little kind of portable little studio, so I'll be able to do that. And also the Canadian Medical Association is putting together

a kind of Q&A situation, an AMEA, ask me anything. It'll be both in English and in French. I'll do the English one, and my old buddy, my pal, Bernard Derome, who was the anchor at in Quebec for all those years as well. So we're both going to be involved in helping out on that situation as well, where we'll have doctors with us and we'll be answering your questions. That one's still being put together,

and hopefully it's going to start next week. So we'll do that as well. So we're all pulling together on this in different ways, and it's important that we all do. So while you do your part by staying at home, while you do your part by checking in on your friends and neighbors, your parents or grandparents, your kids, grandkids, that's all part of it. That's all part of us handling this thing together.

And we're doing it through the magic of social media. Isn't it quite something what we're able to do now? You know, I did a Zoom call the other day. Our family with three other families who are good friends of ours in different cities hooked in together. I was probably the last person around who never heard of Zoom. I have now.

But it's just one. One of the many things that can happen as a result of our world of technology these days. It's remarkable. And it's going to help get us through this. Right? Right. Okay, that's it for the Bridge Daily for this day.

I'm Peter Mansbridge. If you want to write, don't be shy. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. So that's the bridge for this day. It's been great talking to you, and we'll talk again in 24 hours.