Tobacco Rally Organizer Talking Tough

Source from:  Monte Sonnenberg SIMCOE REFORMER Thursday December 06, 2007 12/07/2007

The Oxford-Norfolk-Elgin Landowners Association has no plans to disrupt sales at the tobacco auction exchange in Delhi next week. Association president John Van Daele, of Courtland, has asked tobacco farmers to gather at an urgent meeting tomorrow night in Langton. Media reports earlier this week suggested the gathering at the Langton Community Centre may be a prelude to a "rally" at the auction exchange on Monday. Van Daele said a media event of some kind may be held at the auction exchange, depending on how events go in Langton. Whatever occurs, Van Daele has no plans to interrupt the sale of cured leaf at the Argyle Avenue facility. "I promise not to affect the operations of the marketing of tobacco," he said yesterday. The agenda of Friday's meeting is a closely-guarded secret. Van Daele is not sharing information because he wants growers to come out to hear it for themselves. "It will be mostly me speaking because I'm the only one who knows what's happening," he said. "Why am I keeping it this way? Because I need the place jam-packed." The Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board wants Ottawa and Queen's Park to buy out 271-million pounds of quota. The board maintains that punitive taxation and anti-tobacco legislation have had the effect of expropriating the livelihood of growers without compensation. The board has been negotiating a buyout for more than a year. Van Daele counts himself among a growing number of farmers who believe Ottawa and Queen's Park are not serious about a buyout. In a statement this week, the Oxford-Norfolk-Elgin Landowners Association said senior governments have "declared war" on tobacco. Van Daele says the opportunity for a negotiated settlement has come and gone. "We're beyond talks," he said yesterday. "Show us the money. We don't want to hear that 'progress' is being made. We don't want to hear 'we're working hard.' It's time to show us the money." Local officials have said in recent days that the latest round of talks have been constructive. By the same token -- after more than a year of intensive negotiation -- they admit there are significant obstacles to overcome. Tom McElhone, the newly-elected chair of the tobacco marketing board, says he doesn't see a resolution within the next two months. For her part, Haldimand-Norfolk MP Diane Finley, minister of immigration and citizenship in the Harper cabinet, says her Conservative colleagues in Ottawa are unconvinced that tobacco growers deserve a buyout. Finley added that tobacco farmers, who are represented by only six MPs, lack clout in the nation's capital. "We really did get the rug pulled from underneath us," Van Daele said. "Now we have nothing waiting for us. Our quota was our pension." Friday's meeting at the Langton Community Centre begins at 7:30 p.m. Enditem