Articles: 1980's: Brigid Pyke Articles

Submitted by George Halladay

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 8, 1986. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
THE FRUSTRATION of Ontario farmers -- who are angry over dwindling farm incomes -- is reflected in this month's very public battle over the leadership of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
Brigid Pyke, 39, a Wolfe Island dairy farmer, is making her second bid to unseat the incumbent president. Harry Pelissero, 34, a chicken farmer from Smithville in the Niagara Peninsula, has led the OFA since 1984. Normally the lobby organization, which represents 24,000 farm families, keeps its disputes private.
But strong feeling against Pelissero's leadership broke publicly last month when the six executives on the board unanimously announced they would not support him at the convention.
Five of the six, including second vice-president Jack Wilkinson of Sarnia, threw their support to Pyke.
"If I can't win under those terms, if I don't make it this year, then I am in the wrong position and organization," Pyke said this week in a two-hour interview on her farm. "Wilkinson's support is the key."
If in two weeks' time, the 400 delegates at the 50th anniversary convention elect Pyke, they will break historic ground. She will be the organization's first female president.
Pyke rules out a substantial anti-female vote, saying such a feeling would have shown up earlier as she moved up the executive ladder. Last year, Pyke was unopposed as first vice-president, a post considered a stepping stone to the presidency. And in her first major step on to the ladder of leadership, in 1984, she easily won the post of second vice-president.
While she thinks she has "a darn good chance," Pyke is not sure that delegates are prepared to defeat a incumbent president. The OFA has never defeated a sitting president.
Normally, a president holds office at least three years. Immediate past president Ralph Barrie, a Perth farmer, held the presidency for five years.
Pelissero had told the executive last month -- when they told him he no longer had their support -- that he would not run again. Ten days later, he announced that he would stay.
In a telephone interview from the OFA office in Toronto this week, Pelissero explained that Pyke's announcement she would seek the presidency, and the support she got from the executive, caught him off-guard. He says that caused him to agree at first to an orderly transition.
He reversed his decision, he says, because he wanted "to let delegates look at our record and see the things we have got from the government and let the convention decide."
Pyke was going to run whether Pelissero stood for re-election. She hopes to give delegates value for their money on issues. "I am not above taking on incredible odds," Pyke says "Just because I don't think I can win would be no reason not to run."
"Incumbent presidents usually stay until they stand down," Pyke says. "It is very unusual to take out an incumbent until he has a chance to prove himself."
"The OFA is a stable and staid organization. They don't change for the sake of change."
Farm lobby groups had their early beginning in 1791, when Governor John Simcoe allowed agricultural societies to be formed. One of the most powerful was the Farmers Association of Ontario, which published its own newspaper.
After the First World War, it became the United Farmers of Ontario, representing 60,000 farmers. They fielded candidates provincially and in 1919 formed the government of Ontario with 44 elected members. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture was forged in 1936 when the Ontario Agriculture Conference was joined by the Women's Institutes and the United Farm Women of Ontario to form a true federation. Since then delegates have been elected from county groups to attend provincial conferences.
Pelissero has served 21/2 years since being appointed by the executive board in 1984 to finish Barrie's term. He resigned to take a government post. Pelissero was unopposed at the 1984 convention and beat back a challenge from the floor last year.
Pelissero is the only person who has stood in the way of Brigid Pyke's rise to the presidency. He has defeated her twice in bids for OFA offices: he stopped her first try for the first vice- president's post in 1984 and her initial run at the presidency last year.
Pyke and Pelissero, who both joined the OFA excutive board in 1982, each say they still have a good working relationship. Both also agree that the campaign has not interfered with the day-to-day operation of the OFA. Second vice-president Wilkinson says the executive's support for Pyke is not "a palace revolution." The executive's withdrawal of support from an incumbent reflects the need for a change in the direction of the OFA, he said in a telephone interview from his farm near Sarnia.
The executive members have been hearing grassroots complaints at regional meetings, Wilkinson says. The OFA members want someone who will aggressively push the government on farm issues, he said.
Pelissero himself doesn't deny that there is frustration in the barnyards. He says that his style is more conciliation than confrontation.
"There is no doubt that the executive wanted someone with a tenacious, aggressive approach," Pelissero says. "They want someone to rouse up the troops and to beat the table."
The executive also has a problem with what they see as Pelissero's abrogation of its authority.
Pelissero broke with the policies and strategies planned by the executive without coming back to discuss it with the executive, Wilkinson says.
"That is totally unacceptable -- for a president to change policy without consulting the board," Wilkinson says. "Smoke and mirrors goes a long way, but eventually his fairly thin policy line eroded his support." Pyke doesn't see herself as dogmatic, and says that if the members institute a policy that she disagrees with, she will nonetheless fight for it wholeheartedly.
" Whoever is elected will have a clear mandate to deal with the issues," Pelissero says. "It won't be a mandate by acclamation or default." Pyke claims she has the support of some large blocs of delegates in western Ontario. Wilkinson goes further, estimating Pyke has two- thirds of the delegates in Western Ontario.
Pyke has attended half a dozen of the 40 regional meetings which elected delegates to the provincial convention -- and supporters like Wilkinson have attended other delegate selection meetings.
Ironically, Wilkinson says, it all depends how she does in Eastern Ontario -- and Pyke may not get much support from her home territory. Only Ken Baker of Elginburg leans her way at this time. Other Frontenac delegates -- John Posthumous and Keith Walton, both from Wolfe Islander, and Larry Redden of Harrowsmith -- all say they are uncommitted.
Drainage is the issue which the Frontenac delegates say hurts Pyke in her home county. Farmers are opposed to the high cost of drainage, not drainage itself. They oppose sections of the provincial Drainage Act which takes cost controls out of their municipalities' hands.
But Brigid Pyke says her unequivocal support of drainage has helped her more than it has harmed her across the rest of Ontario. It's a policy of the OFA itself, she points out, to support agriculture drainage. It was indicative that the only speaker at Frontenac County's delegate selection meeting was Doug Avery -- and he is the only member of the executive who doesn't support Pyke.
Frontenac delegate Keith Walton says Pelissero and Pyke make a good team, each complementing the other, and says he hates to lose either. John Posthumus, a veteran of 30 years in the OFA, says it's difficult to get governments to listen to the four per cent of the population who are farmers.
He's not sure that a more aggressive approach is the answer, but concedes that "maybe the OFA was a little too soft" in the past. County delegate Larry Redden says both candidates would do a good job as president. He predicted a hot and heavy race.
Ken Baker of Elginburg says that if Pyke is elected, "people will know Brigid is there."
He says he is leaning toward supporting Pyke at the convention because he has heard her speak before, and likes what she has to say.
Pyke supporters agree that Pelissero's strongest support comes from the estimated 100 delegates which represent the various commodity boards. Both Pelissero and Pyke have been wooing the delegates by telephone, and both will be lobbying for their cause in corridors and hotel rooms the night before the vote.
The election will be held in the middle of the OFA's annual convention, which takes place in Toronto from Nov. 24 to Nov. 26.
Because of his office, Pelissero will make the keynote address to open the convention on Monday, Nov. 24. Then, as one of the presidential candidates, he will again address the delegates prior to the vote on the Tuesday. Pyke will speak only once, just before the ballotting. Delegates will notice a tightening up in the voting procedures this year. Balloting will take place on colored-coded paper scrutinized by an independent company. The results, which had not been made public at other OFA conventions, will be announced after the count this year. Pyke likes these changes, saying it is important for candidates to know their level of support.
"If I count on 300 supporters, and get 100 votes, then maybe the 'woman' factor is bigger than I know," Pyke says.
Each candidate will speak, and then take part in a 15-minute free- wheeling question and answer period just before the balloting. The vote takes place between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25. Wilkinson says the delegates have a clear choice: They can elect a person with a good public relations image, or they can vote for a leader who will aggressively lobby on their behalf.
Pyke says she is perceived to be aggressive, but says she is "not interested in poking a stick in the beehive just for the sake of it." "Structural changes in society have been brought about with a little bit of noise and a little bit of insistence," Pyke says. "I don't shy away from strong lobbying."
Pyke says she doesn't bang on tables to get her arguments across - - but she does want the OFA to be a lot firmer in its demands.
"I hang in patiently to try and explain the OFA position without backing out prematurely. If people call it a more aggressive position, that's what it boils down to.
"I do a hell of a job on the argument," Pyke says. "I see the homework gets done and hope the other side sees the logic in the way we want it done." Pyke doesn't see herself as being dogmatic. She says that that if 90 per cent of the producers pass a policy, she will fight for it even if it is a bad policy.
If she wins, it won't take Pyke long to make her mark. She plans to stay two or three years and then let someone else take over.
"It depends on who is coming behind you," Pyke says. "If someone is chawing at the bit, then you step aside. But you also don't leave them in the lurch."

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 11, 1986. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
WHAT'S THE FIX FOR FARMERS? TRADE SUBSIDIES, MARKETING BOARDS AND DEBT WRITE-OFFS, SAYS BRIGID PYKE;
Brigid Pyke simply doesn't accept the idea that the best way to get more money to farmers is to wipe half of them out.
Pyke, who is running for the presidency of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says her major goal is to lobby for increased farm income, and to stem the flow of farmers out of agriculture.
If she's elected on Nov. 25, the 39-year-old Wolfe Island farmer says she will lobby for three things:
short-term government subsidies of produce sold outside the country; production goals, such as those set by producers' marketing boards; government intervention to help farmers weather their current economic problems.
This year's OFA election will be held during the 50th annual convention in Toronto from Nov. 24 to 26. Pyke will try to unseat Harry Pelissero, 34, who has been OFA president for the last 21/2 years.
A win by Pyke would indicate a change in direction for farmers, to a more determined approach in dealing with governments and consumers. In a recent interview at her farm, Pyke outlined what she thinks agriculture needs.
One of the biggest problems facing Ontario farmers is stiff competition from other countries, she says, particularly the U. S. and the European Common Market. They both subsidize their surplus foods to sell cheaply on the open market, Pyke says. Commodities are now selling on the world market cheaper than it costs to produce them.
Pyke cannot yet put a final price on the harm done by other countries subsidizing their farmers. But she says the OFA recently talked with federal cabinet ministers about what to do with the first $1 billion in government aid recently announced by Agriculture Minister John Wise. "Damage in the grain sector is $2 to $3 billion, and $1.7 billion for wheat alone," Pyke says of foreign subsidies.
"Oh, people say: 'Be competitive and sell on the world market'. (But) we are competing not against other farmers but against foreign treasuries -- and they have a lot more money than Canada has been willing to spend." It's important to Pyke that farmers get across to politicians and the public how they feel about farm policies.
She says no farmer knows where the country is going because there is no formalized, overall agriculture policy in Canada.
An example is the move by the federal Tory government to kill Canagrex, a Crown agency set up by the previous Liberal Government to sell commodities around the world.
"It is such a hopelessly regressive move," Pyke says. "Here we are in the middle of a trade war, and the thought of Canada not having a Crown corporation to get produce out on world markets just boggles the mind. Other countries have something like Canagrex.
"Because farmers know their problems are caused by world events, not many farmers are willing to hop on a bus and take a chunk out of Ottawa," Pyke says.
"But Canada has a response to make in order to stay in this game. We can't wait for the world to straighten out. We won't be in the game long unless we can do something for Canadian producers."
Pyke says agriculture is also in trouble because of the ratio between investment and return. In agriculture, she says, that ratio is higher than even in the most capital-intensive industries -- worse than manufacturing, worse that mining, worse than everything.
"It is not unusual for a farmer with $1 million in investment (to be) grossing $100,000 and netting a subsistence living," Pyke says. "There is a three-or four-per-cent return, just horrendous figures."
But reducing the number of farmers, as some people advocate, is not the answer, she says.
"Dividing the consumer food dollar among fewer farmers has been tried for years. It is false economy."
"Are we valued components, or are we like the horse-harness industry and slated for obsolescence?" Pyke asks. "And how long do we fight to hang on to it when all the forces are against it?"
Pyke says raising the level of profit for farmers would do little to the end price of food. Of $1,700 now spent by the comsumer, for example, only $100 goes to the farmer as profit.
Pyke says agriculture's poor return aggravates the effects of inflation and interest rates.
"How can farmers with returns of three and four per cent continue to pay interest rates of 11 to 12 per cent without a better return on their products?" Pyke asks.
Farmers are in debt by more more than $29 billion dollars, Pyke says, and perhaps a quarter of it is not going to be paid back. She says the government should write off or set aside that debt until the farmers get back on their feet.
"It is nothing less that what is being done for a whole host of Latin American countries (by agencies such as the International Monetary Fund). "It is not a bailout, but a negotiated position betwen creditor and lender.
"This pigheaded attitude -- that we will sell a farm to a stranger for 40 cents on the dollar but we won't keep the farmer who knows the operation better -- should be discouraged," Pyke says.
"We must make more effort to keep farmers on the land."
Talks on freer trade between Canada and the U.S. are pointing out to farmers just how little negotiators -- and their government -- actually know about agriculture.
Pyke says the federal government assumed -- incorrectly -- that each commodity group had banks of researchers who could supply negotiators with documented arguments to take to the talks.
"We have only two researchers at the OFA, which represents 240,000 farm families, and there are two more at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture," Pyke says.
Small commodity groups had even fewer researchers to document their arguments for the government. As a result, researchers are overworked because they also have to know how the American system works to do a comparison.
"It's as unrealistic as a Herman cartoon," Pyke says, referring to a panel by Jim Unger in which a husband says to his wife: "Here's $10 for a dress."
Pyke fears that free-trade negotiators might bargain away such things as the Canadian supply and management system, under which quota targets are set by provincial management board.
Pyke emphasizes that subsidies are not the long-term solution. In the long haul, consumers and governments have to be convinced that producers need to get more out of the marketplace by short-term subsidies, lower interest rates and higher prices for food at the consumer level. "Either we subsidize to keep them on the land," Pyke says, "or we get marketing systems to allow farmers to figure their cost of production and charge higher (prices) to stay in business."
Pyke backs marketing boards, and says she doesn't view them as government intervention, as critics do. Marketing boards allow farmers to organize their own affairs and market a product collectively, she says.
"Americans don't like our supply and management systems. If there is one thing that would send farmers up to Ottawa to take it apart brick by brick, it would be an assault on the supply-management system (in free-trade talks or elsewhere)," Pyke says. "We looked world over and it is the best."
Pyke is a partner with her husband, Bob, in a 1,000-acre family dairy operation on Wolfe Island. She says consumers are getting a heck of a deal, "with mom and pop and the kids pitching in 16 hours a day." "It is a durable way to produce food," Pyke says. "We shouldn't be taken for granted. I expect it to be around a long time."
The lower profit to farmers also affects the future of family farms, which make up a large number of the 82,450 farm units in Ontario. Pyke says family farms are turned over to the next generation every 15 to 16 years and not 25 years. "There must be enough to finance each generation," Pyke says. "Otherwise you are ripping off people's pension plans or else you're giving it to the kids."

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 22, 1986. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
TWENTY YEARS AGO, Brigid Pyke shed a middle-class urban background to begin an immersion into the world of barnyard politics.
Pyke, 39, could reach a new milestone next Tuesday by becoming the first woman to win the presidency of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture at its 50th annual convention in Toronto. She must defeat incumbent president Harry Pelissero, who has led the OFA since 1982.
The daughter of a general surgeon, Pyke was born and raised in London, Ont., the oldest girl in a family of seven. She finished Grade 13 in Neuchatel, Switzerland, at a Canadian-accredited private school.
A summer visit to Wolfe Island in her mid-teens made a huge change in her life. She met and later married Bob Pyke, a third generation island dairy farmer. She became a "farm wife" and business partner in a growing dairy business.
"I knew I was going into farming and so Bob's interests became my interests," Brigid says. "I even enrolled one day at the agriculture college at Guelph but Bob convinced me that I could learn more about agriculture -- trial by fire so to speak -- on the Pyke farm." The Pyke brothers, Bob and his older brother, Grant, bought the family farm, a 1,000 acre dairy operation, in 1967. Later they bought an additional 700 acres near Gananoque. They milk about 170 cows on the two farms.
"When I landed on this island, the Pyke family were pretty liberal-minded," Brigid says. "They had no set rules as to who should do what. If I showed an interest, no one discouraged me.
"I wanted to be a full partner and so I tried to pay attention. I preferred reading -- I still do. I never was stand-offish. It never bothered me to ask a foolish question."
She considers her ability to ask questions her greatest asset. It helps her break farm problems into easy-to-understand components that ordinary people can understand while also admitting that solutions are not easy or simple.
Since only about four per cent of Canada's population are farmers, Pyke knows she must reach non-farmers with easy-to-grasp arguments.
Her explanation of drainage, shows her abilities. It's a controversial and complex issue even among farmers, and explaining it to non-farmers is a tough task.
Pyke says drainage is not unlike a municipality putting in local improvements, water and sewer mains, over the objections of some residents, who don't want to share the added costs with their neighbors who do want the sewer and water connections.
Much of the controversy over drainage centres on farmers being forced to contribute to an expensive drain when there is little benefit for them. In a municipality, all taxpayers pay for local improvements whether or not they benefit directly.
Pyke says one can cover a lot of ground in 20 years -- and she has, going from farm wife to a step away from the presidency of a farm lobby group which represents 24,000 farm families.
"I have eaten and breathed agriculture for 20 years now," Pyke says. "I hate to think that one wouldn't know it inside and backwards by now. "You can be a brain surgeon in seven years, a lawyer in whatever - - as long as you are interested, can listen, read and communicate."
Pyke considers the last 20 years "very formative years in my life." Pyke first stepped outside her role as farm wife in 1970 when she attended a provincial cabinet meeting at Smiths Falls. She and Bob went as a farm family that wanted to talk about what was wrong with agriculture.
Bill Stewart, then Ontario's agriculture minister, was so impressed that he asked Brigid, then 23, to become the youngest member of a Royal Commission on agriculture commodities.
She attended 19 hearings of the Kowal Commission and freely admits that "I got a lot more out than what I was able to contribute." Pyke found there is a world of difference in the commodities. But she learned that the policy issues and strategies were very similar. That commission fuelled her interest in agriculture politics. "Once you aspire to represent other farmers' interests, you are obligated to look past the obvious when these problems come up," Pyke says.
Oddly enough, she never served at the county level of the agriculture federation. When the family bought another dairy holding near Gananoque in 1980, she was elected a provincial director from Leeds for two years. In 1981, she was elected to the provincial executive of the federation. She became second-vice-president in 1984 and first vice- president in 1985. Later that same year, she was elected first vice- president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture as well.
Despite her political involvement, Pyke says her family and farm come first. She has three children, Duncan, 19, who is attending Kemptville College of Agriculture; Stephan, 17, and Brigid, 15, who are both at Kingston Collegiate Vocational Institute.
"If they were not okay, I would not be here," Pyke says. "I get a bird's eye view of the farm operation. I am not in the barn very often."
Pyke says husband, Bob, jokes a bit about her work, telling her: "I hope you win and I hope you lose" the election on Tuesday.
"There are things on the farm, and he wants me to be a part of it. He worries about my travelling, but he is supportive and thinks I am getting somewhere."
Pyke says as president she will be able to set her schedule to suit her own timetable. She is not at the moment thinking beyond a normal two or three year tenure as president, saying she will move aside when someone else comes along.
If she wins, Pyke won't stay up night worrying about people who disagree with her position. She believes in doing what she thinks is best.
As a partner in a family farm operation, Pyke says consumers are getting a heck of a deal with mom and pop and the kids pitching in 16 hours of work a day.
"It is a durable way to produce food," Pyke says. "We shouldn't be taken for granted. I expect it to be around a long time."
The lower profit also affects the future of family farms, which comprise a large number of the 82,450 farm units in Canada. Pyke says family farms are turned over to the next generation every 15 to 16 years, and not 25 years. "There must be enough to finance each generation," Pyke says. "Otherwise you are ripping off people's pension plans or else you're giving it to the kids."

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 25, 1986. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
Wolfe Island dairy farmer Brigid Pyke was elected the first woman president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture this morning.
Pyke, 39, defeated incumbent president Harry Pelissero, 34, by 21 votes. The vote was 227-206.
It was Pyke's second challenge for the presidency of the lobby group that represents 26,000 Ontario farm families. She was defeated by Pelissero in 1985.
The election campaign was a contrast in styles. Pyke was viewed as the more aggressive candidate, while Pelissero has a concialtory approach. In the end, delegates voted for a change -- the first time an incumbent president has been defeated in modern OFA history.
Pyke acknowledged in an interview after the election that the closeness of the race would mean she has some fence-mending ahead of her. One of her first orders of business, she said, would be to gain the trust of the 206 people who voted against her.
"I don't plan to do anything drastic immediately," Pyke said. "I will consult with my executive.
Pyke and Pelissero have promised to work together. As a past president, Pelissero will sit on the 1987 executive board of the OFA. The first and second vice-presidents were to be filled this afternoon.
In her speech to delegates before the vote this morning, Pyke also stressed the team approach. She said she would rely on her executive, many of whom supported her against Pelissero's leadership.
Pelissero faced "palace revolt" two months ago when the majority of his executive asked him to step down.
"We must get our voice through the noise in a credible way," Pyke said this morning. "The government and the public are now listening, and we must advance well thought out arguments."

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 26, 1986. pg. 1
News(Wolfe Island)
Brigid Pyke, newly elected president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says farmers can't stop pushing for help, despite recent new financial support from both the federal and provincial governments. The Wolfe Island farmer said in an interview yesterday that she she will bring a more aggressive approach to lobbying for the 23,600 members of the OFA. She said will make farm-debt review a priority, along with anything that will increase the net incomes of farmers.
Pyke also said that her slim 21-vote victory over incumbent president Harry Pelissero doesn't mean that she will be leading a seriously divided constituency.
"We are all going to work together," Pyke said. "The closeness of the vote was expected, since I was taking on an incumbent president." Dairy farmer Pyke, 39, yesterday became the first female president of the OFA in its 50-year history by defeating Pelissero 227-206. It was the first time that an OFA president has been defeated while in office. Pyke welcomes the recent influx of money from both the federal and provincial treasuries, confirming that Ontario farmers will get about $150 million more in federal subsidies by the end of the year. The money is part of a $1 billion federal agriculture program launched last month. That money is in addition to a $150 million boost for farm programs that was announced yesterday at the convention by Ontario Agriculture Minister Jack Riddell.
"The uninitiated would think we are getting everything we asked for," Pyke said. "(But) the billion dollars from the federal government is only going to touch a quarter" of the damage that has been done to Canadian agriculture on world markets by foreign- government subsidies to farmers.
On the issue of farmers' debts, Pyke said: "These problems have been left for a long, long time. We have all kinds of people lined up to go through this debt review process. We've got 3,400 Farm Credit (Corporation) mortgages in arrears. I agree that some things have been done. We need to do more; that is the long and the short of it.
"I am going to take a little more aggressive stance on the issues," Pyke said. "That's what the delegates voted for. That is what they have the right to receive."
Pyke now faces the task of mending fences within the OFA. The convention's 436 delegates polarized into two distinct camps, those for Pyke's aggressive stance and those for Pelissero's conciliatory approach. "The closeness of the vote tells me that I am going to have to work real hard to convince the 206 people that didn't vote for me that we can run the organization to their satisfaction," Pyke said.
"It is going to take time for the wounds to heal. People who supported Harry have already come up to offer their support (to me)." Pyke figured she was closing in on half the delegates when the convention opened on Monday. She said the support of the executive, particularly second vice-president Jack Wilkinson, was crucial. Although his support helped Pyke, it may have cost him the first vice-president's post. He was defeated by Keith Buchner 213-186, but won the second vice-president's post on the second ballot. Pyke was first vice-president before the election.
Buchner, a retired dairy farmer from Oxford County, said in an interview that he was concerned about the media's perception that there was a split in the OFA executive before the vote.
He said he would have no trouble working with either Pyke or Pelissero, saying he presents himself as "an older, unifying force." Farmers will have to learn survive, he said, and "this is no time to be fractional in our presentations."
The bitterness within the OFA broke into the open two months ago when the provincial executive withdrew its support of Pelissero, who was president since 1984.
Declaring that the convention was the place to decide his leadership, Pelissero sought re-election. After yesterday's close result, he said he would remain on the executive, a post he'll hold as immediate past president.
Pellisero defended his style of leadership by saying that being confrontational is good for attention on the evening news, but "someone has to present the government with a credible and responsible solution." Pyke stressed the need for a team team approach by the exectuive. "The delegates have faith in me, notwithstanding the quote, aggressivness, unquote," Pyke said. "I have been around here for a long time. They feel comfortable with me.
"The board of directors has faith in my ability and feel comfortable with me. And while this aggressive stand is thrown around, they know I am not going to jeopardize the credibility that has been built up around the OFA.
"The basic theme of the delegates was they wanted a change," Pyke said. "They were not unhappy with Harry's performance. They just wanted a change."

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 27, 1986. pg. 1
News(Wolfe Island)
BRIGID PYKE, a feisty dairy farmer from Wolfe Island, is about to leave her mark on the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
In an exciting race, she defeated incumbent president Harry Pelissero by just 21 votes, in her second attempt to lead the important group which represents some 26,000 farm families in Ontario.
Now that Ms Pyke has won, she has a lot of fence-mending to do, and she shows every sign that she understands how important that fence-mending will be.
As the first woman to hold the top office in the OFA, she will be wanting to gain the support of the whole organization, including the 206 people who voted against her, before taking the federation into any strong new initiatives.
A good sign was the promise given by both Ms Pyke and Mr. Pelissero that they will work together for the good of the organization, and also the announcement from the new president that she is planning to carefully consult her executive about what the federation's fresh approach should be to the many pressing problems facing Ontario farmers.
The new president ought to be a decided asset to the OFA because she shows a special ability to communicate, to get attention for her views. That will mean a higher profile for both Brigid Pyke and the OFA and that will be all to the good.
After her election, she commented: "We must get our voice through the noise in a credible way. The government and the public are now listening, and we must advance well thought out arguments."
This is a significant goal, and Ms Pyke shows every sign that she is capable of meeting it.
Brigid Pyke, 39, is in her prime. Our congratulations and best wishes to her, as she prepares to take up the challenges facing the OFA.

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 28, 1989. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
The federal government -- not Canada's trading partners -- is fuelling the demand to change farm income support programs and marketing structures, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was told here yesterday.
Brigid Pyke, OFA president, said in her keynote address that the government was establishing a new order by withdrawing federal support for agriculture. She was critical of the federal government's vision in its agriculture discussion paper, Growing Together.
Mrs. Pyke said that the document -- scheduled to be discussed by agricultural leaders in Ottawa next month -- is notably deficient in detailed suggestions. She said that the plan calls for greater market responsiveness, greater self-reliance, recognition of regional diversity and increased environmental sustainability.
"It is difficult to imagine agriculture in this country held hostage by market signals," Mrs. Pyke said.
"Stabilization programs for many commodities are there to allow us to survive when market signals are telling the farmer to pack it in -- the market price is below his cost of production."
Mrs. Pyke said that the federal paper describes a more flexible supply management system without inter-provincial barriers and more export orientated.
"The system decribed no longer sounds like supply management. It sounds as silly as someone who aspires to be a champion swimmer, but doesn't want to get wet."
Mrs. Pyke urged delegates to read their copy of the federal white paper. The document was released by federal Agriculture Minister Donald Mazankowski as a discussion document and he said at last week's farm rally that "everything was on the table."
"Hold it up to the light," Mrs. Pyke said. "This is your future flashing in front of you."
Mindful that she is also being challenged today for the leadership of the OFA, Mrs. Pyke acknowledged that there had been mixed results and some losses on the issues of crop insurance and the property tax rebate. Her opponent, New Liskeard farmer Jack Wilkinson, has criticized Mrs. Pyke for not involving farmers in the OFA's operation. He said that many farmers were ready to withdraw from the provincial and county levels of the organization.
"In order to preserve a happy future, we need to draw on the planning resources of all committee members," Mrs. Pyke said. She outlined a number of initiatives that she had taken making use of the grassroots membership and the directors.
Delegates at one point yesterday rose to complain that they had not received a copy of a new code of ethics for candidates. It was noted that the county executives had received the new policy.
Mrs. Pyke scolded the county secretaries and directors for not informing the convention delegates of the new policy approved by the OFA's board of directors in October. She said that the county executives had three months to hold information meetings with delegates about the new policy. The two candidates -- Mrs. Pyke and Mr. Wilkinson -- were nominated yesterday for president of the OFA. Mrs. Pyke is running for her fourth term and has said that this will be her last.
The election for president, first vice-president and second vice- president will all take place at today's session.

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 29, 1986. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
NEW OFA LEADERSHIP GOOD BALANCING ACT PYKE, NEW VP COMPLEMENTARY;
Members of Ontario's largest farm lobby group went home after their convention this week, knowing that they have the right combination of checks and balances in their leadership.
On Tuesday, delegates at the 50th annual meeting of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture elected an aggressive new president, Brigid Pyke, 39, of Wolfe Island.
But the voters hedged their bets by chosing veteran Keith Buchner of Oxford Towship as first vice-president. Buchner is viewed as a "cooler, wiser head."
Buchner, who says he can work with Pyke, feels this is not the time for the group, whichrepresents 24,000 farm families, to be fractional. He hopes to offer a steady influence on OFA policies.
To think of Pyke only as aggressive is wrong. She seeks consensus -- which she demonstrated recently at a federal conference held to divide up more than $1 billion in payments.
Federal Agriculture Minister John Wise, surprised by Ontario's united front, let the province's farmers win $130 million of the $1 billion. In meetings just before they met with Wise, Pyke had convinced the commodity groups to present a united front. That money will come to farmers before the end of the year.
Pyke's election as president was unexpected even by veteran convention observers. There was so little election talk held in the open that many people assumed delegates would opt for the status quo.
The status quo would have mean re-electing Harry Pelissero of the Niagara region.
After all, the OFA had never unseated an incumbent president nor elected a woman president. To do both at the same convention says much for the mood of the farm community.
Pyke's gender was never seriously debated as a negative issue. If it had been, a third candidate would have stepped forward to split the vote. As well, any strong feelings against her as a woman would have surfaced when she ran for first vice-president last year.
Pyke and Pelissero, whom she defeated by 21 votes last Tuesday morning, are a contrast in personalities.
Pyke is emotional and vocal, while Pelissero is laid-back and conciliatory. There were delegates that felt the pair made a great team, each complementing the other's shortcomings.
Pyke has been helping farmers at the provincial level for nearly 10 years. That's enough time for people to judge her capabilities and to collect some debts. She called in those chips last Tuesday.
Pyke also gave the better of the two speeches, stating there was nothing wrong with being aggressive -- if you are right.
The election campaign was unlike a political campaign. There was no hoopla, no buttons of support worn by any of the delegates, no placards, no demonstrations, and the only banners that flew over the convention floor were emblazoned with the names of Ontario's counties.
Behind the scenes, opponents tried to label Pyke as a table- banger and Pelissero as a wimp. Pelissero showed real guts in allowing the convention to decide the leadership issue.
The one-on-one arm twisting was intense in the lobbies, the delegates' rooms and at the edges of the convention floor. No one worked harder than Jack Wilkinson, a staunch Pyke suppporter, who roamed the corridors and hotel rooms to meet county delegations, searching for uncommitted delegates.
Wilkinson's high profile in the fight cost him. He lost his bid for the first vice-president's post to Buchner. While there were whispers of a backlash vote, delegates merely exercised the option of chosing a cooler, wiser head over the emotional Wilkinson.
Wilkinson and Pyke are too much alike emotionally for delegates to risk them acting as a team. Nonetheless, the delegates have a lot of respect for Wilkinson. They showed it by applauding when he announced he would allow his name to stand for second vice- president, when it was apparent he could not become first vice- president. He won the lesser post easily. This year's executive also came under fire for trying publicly to oust Pelissero before the convention, and there were grumblings of reprisals. Three of the executive members -- Roger George, Bill Benson, both staunch Pyke supporters, and Doug Avery of Brockville -- were returned. Lynn Girty, another Pyke backer, was defeated by Earl Saar of Renfrew County, who also supported Pyke.
Pelissero took the loss with dignity. He continues to serve on the 135-member board of directors as immediate past president, but won't be privy to internal nuts-and-bolts decisions made by the seven-member executive -- now headed by Pyke.

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 21, 1987. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
Brigid Pyke leans forward in a rocking chair that appears dwarfed in size next to a towering mass of fieldstone.
The fieldstone surrounds an unlit fireplace in the century-old Pyke homestead located on the south shore of Wolfe Island. She pauses, pensively, before answering.
"I'd say it's been a very enlightening and valuable learning experience," says Pyke, analysing her first year as president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
"I feel good about what we've managed to do in the past 12 months. It takes a long time to learn the ins and outs of all OFA policies and become acquainted with all the people and information.
"I certainly don't feel, therefore, that I've hit my stride."
Last November, Pyke assumed the federation leadership, edging past-president Harry Pelissero -- a calm, undisturbed chicken farmer from the Niagara Peninsula -- by a scant 21 votes.
The slim margin of victory almost immediately raised questions of polarization within the federation's ranks. The near-split in opinion among the 400 federation delegates would spell unity problems, some predicted.
So far, that premature assessment of her ability to lead is about as accurate as a Middle East war report.
"The problem was not a huge one," said Pyke, at home recently enjoying a rare mid-week visit with her family.
"It was just a matter of re-acquiring support of those members in the commodity sector who threw their support behind the past president," she said. "I know some people expected (a division) but I have never felt or detected any such repercussions. Everyone realizes we're in this together."
For many farmers, the past year brought countless free trade debates and still-plunging crop prices. Pyke's constituents needed guidance and reassurance more than ever. They wanted guarantees that their agricultural worlds were not crumbling into oblivion.
An eloquent, confidant speaker, Pyke, an energized 40, delivered federation advice -- and caution -- on issues.
She travelled the province almost incessantly, logging over 4,000 miles a month on an federation-provided car.
She heard the concerns of farmers -- and their governments -- and wherever and whenever necessary, congratulated, consoled, scolded and argued, pulling no punches.
"The schedule is so hectic and tight that unfortunately, we reluctantly must turn down a number of engagements because of time constraints." She also collected contacts -- political and otherwise -- everywhere she went, a move she hopes will pay off at some future bargaining table. Though a knowledgable source on farming and the problems currently facing that industry, Pyke, oddly enough, hails from London, Ont. The city girl's passion for agriculture was aroused only after she met (and subsequently married) Bob Pyke, a mild-mannered redhead whose family roots go back over 100 years on the big island.
Their 21-year union has produced three children, all of whom have tentative plans for farming careers. "Bob and I would really like to see them experience other things first and then decide," she said. She handles with ease the transformation in roles, from leader of a 24,000-member federation to parent at the evening dinner table.
One minute she's telling a subcommittee on free trade that "it's always good to shake hands with the Americans. But it's always good to count your fingers, too." Hours later, at the family supper table, she deals with the aspect of her son's unchaperoned ski trip to Quebec.
As president, she has fought diligently against flat payments to farmers, who have certain crops affected by government quotas. "That means a flat payment to anyone calling himself a farmer, no matter what he produces. To me that's incredibly strange logic. It's like flat payments in the health care system, regardless if someone has a hangnail or open-heart surgery. It would put the farmer totally on the dole," she said.
Yet, the proposed free trade with the Americans remains a grave concern for Pyke and her organization.
"If that deal is signed, it spell doom for a number of sectors. The tender fruit industry would be hardest hit. When it's lost we won't get those farmers back in production.
"We wiped out the sugar beet industry," continued Pyke. "If you tried to convince farmers to grow sugar beets now, you'd need controls to prevent cheap sugar from coming in from outside sources.
"Canadians are simply hallucinating if they think the Americans are going to play by the rules of this pact," she said.
More and more farmers, she said dourly, are resigned to the inevitability of a free trade with the Americans. Such resignation frustrates and sometimes angers the stubborn activist. "As a general farm organization, (the federation) has been trying to take a very responsible position. We live by trade, and this deal is simply not looking so hot!"
The Pykes are a close-knit bunch, open and highly supportive of each other. Says Brigid: "I really miss my family and the home life; hotel living can be just dreadful at times.
"But on the other hand, I thoroughly enjoy my work, so I'm fortunate to have a tremendously supportive family. Without them it just wouldn't be possible."
She regrets not being around to discuss the day-to-day operation of the 1,000-acre dairy farm, that is shared with Bob's brother and sister-in-law and 160 milking Holsteins.
"Whether it's a birthday party or a major management decision, I like to be here, to take part in the process. However, that's not possible," she added ruefully.
She scoffs at the not-unpopular suggestion that she is a militant, razor-tongued, quick-witted radical. At times, she can be all of these and more, she said.
"I can get quite worked up, almost abusive when necessary, over a matter that's being discussed. But I don't really see myself as a radical. "Some members, because they elected this so-called radical, expect to see me chained to supermarket counters or something."
She says her largest disappointment is "what I know we can't do while at the same time knowing what has to be done. We don't have the power to change situations. If we can't get our act together and tell the government how farmers think about something, then we know perfectly well that policies are going to be formed without our views.
"And if those policies are unfavorable, we'll be spending God knows how long unravelling them."
Pyke's schedule will not lighten next year; it's expected she'll be acclaimed for another term as the federation's three-day convention begins Monday.
However, this delightful, dynamic woman remains unbothered. In fact, her biggest fear away from the job is common to all Island residents. "Missing that 2 a.m. boat," she said, referring to the day's final crossing. "Sometimes that's all I think about on the trip home.

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Oct 26, 1989. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
Farmers will soon learn whether the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement has killed the small family farm in Canada, says Brigid Pyke, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
As the result of an unequal system, the U.S. will control farm products such as milk coming into its country, but Canada will be powerless to do the same, said Mrs. Pyke.
That, in turn, will give the economic advantage to the large farm conglomerate and destroy the small family farm in Canada, she said. Mrs. Pyke sounded the alarm for the small farm Tuesday during a media tour of the Pyke dairy farm north of Gananoque. Mrs. Pyke and her husband, Bob, live on their second dairy farm on Wolfe Island.
Mrs. Pyke explained how small farms have been supported in the past by Canadian policies that accept supply management and marketing boards. Supply management is contrary to the spirit of the free trade agreement. Still, supply management has one last chance for survival under a ruling being considered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Mrs. Pyke explained the development this way:
Systems of supply management such as milk quotas and the Ontario Milk Marketing Board ensure the small family farm a portion of the market. Supply management can control the share of the market because the import of products into the country is also controlled.
One way this control of imports is done is through tariffs.
The U.S. wanted to get rid of marketing boards in Canada, and the free trade agreement, by eliminating tariffs, made that possible, says Mrs. Pyke.
The tariffs protected small Canadian farms linked under marketing boards from the cheaper products of large U.S. farms.
The "last bastion of defence" is control of the quantity of farm products entering a country, Mrs. Pyke says.
The U.S. has that protection, but not Canada, according to Mrs. Pyke. The U.S. has a 30-year-old waver from GATT which allows it to control the quantity of a farm product crossing its border.
Canada, with less political and economic clout, has no such waver, and Mrs. Pyke believes that the federal government is unlikely to get one from GATT.
In September, a committee of GATT said that Canada should not be allowed to control the quantity of yogurt and ice cream coming from the U.S. into Canada.
The full GATT council is studying the decision. The federal government will represent the interests of Canadian farmers.
However, Mrs. Pyke suspects that the federal government wants to see the end of supply management in Canada.
Canada has "pioneered" a supply management system that is the envy of the world, says Mrs. Pyke.
Why give that up? she asks. "It's like saying, 'Why don't we give up the telephone?'
"We've got to hang tough on our right to have supply management." Farming is "a quite fragile system," she said.
Some farmers have given up in desperation and sold their land in a lucrative development market, she said.
Others, like the Pykes, with their two dairy farms, intend to resist as long as farming remains profitable.
Supply management policies like milk quotas have given security to the family farms, she said. "It allowed those farms to find their niche and survive."
There are 9,860 dairy farms in Ontario supporting 18,000 farm families. The average size of the herd is 46 dairy cattle.
"There's no question that without the poultry industry going to supply management in 1972, we would not have 700 poultry producers left in Ontario. There would be very much fewer than that, maybe only one or two."
She based her remarks on a comparison of the number of poultry farms in Canada and the U.S.
There are about 1,700 poultry farms under Canada's supply management system, she said.
The U.S., with 10 times the population, has almost the same number, however these farms are large factory-like operations.
Some of Mrs. Pyke's comments were made during a tour Tuesday of two farms that she organized for Whig-Standard editorial writers.
Besides the Pyke farm, the group visited the poultry farm of Bruce Paddle north of Gananoque.

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Nov 29, 1989. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
Brigid Pyke, elected to her fourth term as president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture here yesterday, promised to act on the delegates' criticism of her leadership.
"The leash has always been short since it is a one-year term," Mrs. Pyke said during the second day of the OFA's annual convention here. "Of all the concern and the criticism that has been raised, mercifully they can all be rectified.
"I don't interpret the criticism to mean that we are closed and that it pushes away involvement. It is very open," she said.
Mrs. Pyke, 42, defeated Jack Wilkinson, a New Liskeard farmer who was her biggest booster in 1986 when Mrs. Pyke was elected. She had indicated that this would be her last term.
Mrs. Pyke said that she still had a lot of energy for the job and that there was no danger of burnout -- adding that she did smoulder at times, however.
Mrs. Pyke defeated Mr. Wilkinson 222 to 110. A total of 334 delegates cast ballots in yesterday's vote and there were two spoiled ballots. Later in the day, Mr. Wilkinson was elected second vice- president of the OFA. He told delegates that Mrs. Pyke had promised to address many of the delegates' concerns.
Mr. Wilkinson said that he never questioned the integrity of Mrs. Pyke. He felt that he could work with both her and Roger George, the first vice-president, acclaimed to a third term here yesterday.
In her acceptance speech, Mrs. Pyke acknowledged that the 110 votes cast against her indicated that delegates' had concerns and criticisms. She said that the delegates wanted more involvement and she will sit down and find a way to do it.
Mrs. Pyke also said that she would carry out an election promise to involve the commodity boards. She said that the OFA could schedule meetings with commodity boards to discuss their concerns.
Mrs. Pyke said that a two-thirds margin was a good mandate to begin a new year. She said that there many problems ahead for farmers. In 1986, Mrs. Pyke became the first woman to head the OFA in the 50-year history of the farm organization which represents 23,000 farm families. She was acclaimed in 1987 and 1988.
The annual convention concludes here today with a speech by Ontario Agriculture Minister David Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay has spent the last two days in Washington talking about Ontario's marketing boards.

The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.
Feb 18, 1992. pg. 1
News (Wolfe Island)
PYKES ABANDON DAIRYING FAMILY SELLS MILK QUOTA, FEARING GATT- INDUCED CRISIS;
Uncertainty over the survival of Canada's dairy supply management system has forced a prominent dairy farm family to scrap a planned expansion and sell its milk quota.
Brigid Pyke, a former president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, and her husband Bob sold their quota this month on the electronic auction operated by the Ontario Milk Marketing Board.
"It was either starve to death for five years or cut the cord now," Mr. Pyke said. "I always expected that the rabbit could be pulled out of the hat, but the decision was made in the last couple of weeks to sell the quota."
The island farm will continue to supply milk under its quota until mid-March.
A farm's quota is the amount of milk it can produce, measured in litres. Federal regulations determine the national consumption quota, which is divided up among the provinces. Provincial regulators further divide it among farmers in the province.
Mrs. Pyke is well-known in dairy circles. She abandoned city life in 1966 to begin a career of barnyard politics, which culminated in 1986 when she became the OFA's first woman president. With her urban background, she was able to explain farm problems to non-farmers. Mr. Pyke, 46, said uncertainty over the Uruguay round of talks on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade forced them into the decision to sell.
The family had planned to expand the island's dairy herd this year and build a new barn. But the grim trade picture forced a reappraisal. Mr. Pyke said a tariff system "would devastate the milk industry. If it leads to a slow death, we didn't want to die on down the road. We would rather face the firing squad now and see what our options are."
The dairy industry fears the GATT will replace Canada's import restrictions with a system of tariffs. Current restrictions allow only three per cent of the national supply to be imported from outside Canada. Under the GATT, tariffs or border surcharges on imported goods would be reduced over a five year period. More milk would cross the border, threatening Ontario's 17,000 producers.
Mr. and Mrs. Pyke grew even more pessimistic about the GATT outcome after attending a rally in Kemptville with 1,400 other eastern Ontario farmers.
"It was clear that the Ontario Milk Marketing Board representative had no more rabbits to pull," Mr. Pyke said. "Our best course was to sell the quota."
The sale price wasn't disclosed but quota value on the exchange ranges between $7,000 and $10,000 per cow, and the Pykes had enough quota to maintain a herd of 60 to 65 cows.
The Pykes don't know how many farmers bought the quota they offered at the Feb. 7 exchange since the offer and the bidding are kept secret from the participants.
The brisk upscale bidding at the January and February exchange surprised the Pykes in light of the gloomy GATT outlook.
"The prices that dairy farmers were willing to pay for quota really surprised us," Mr. Pyke said. "They showed a lot more faith in the industry that we did at that time."
The sale came on the heels of a unrelated decision by the Pyke families, Bob and Brigid and Grant and Margaret, to dissolve their 25-year family partnership on Jan. 1. A third brother, George, owns and operates a separate cash crop farm on the island.
Mr. Pyke said that the decision to split the Pyke farms had nothing to do with the current trade negotiations. He said that the farm partnership was dissolved because of differences in farming philosophy, and a growing family interested in farming and other careers by younger members of the Pyke family.
Bob and Brigid ran the 1,100-acre dairy operation on Wolfe Island, while Grant and Margaret kept the 700-acre farm in Leeds County just west of Gananoque.
Mr. Pyke's great grandfather, George Pyke, started a small dairy operation about 125 years ago. In recent years, the Pyke family milked 160 cows on the island and in Gananoque, grew corn and hay as cash crops and ran a pick-your-own strawberry operation.
"The future is not in cash crops," Mr. Pyke said. "We might use it as a stop gap until we decide how to use our remaining assets."
The Pykes will look at other options, including maintaining a livestock base on the island farm. He didn't rule out the possibility that the Pyke family might again operate a dairy herd, perhaps outside of Canada. The Pykes' son, Duncan, and his wife, Beverley, are interested in a dairy operation, but only if the supply management system survives the GATT talks.
Mr. Pyke said he has no plans to sell the island farm at the moment.

The Islands: Articles: 1980's: Brigid Pyke articles