'I just can't stand by': 2 P.E.I. women write letters lobbying politicians to resolve potato crisis

Two Island women are putting their concerns about the potato crisis in P.E.I. on paper, asking politicians to find a resolution and get the U.S. border reopened.

Mary van den Broek Grant has been co-owner of Cardigan Feed Services for 40 years, and her father owned the business before that. Theresa Redmond recently retired home to P.E.I. after years in Ottawa working for the federal government. She now lives on the family farm in Corraville. 

"I've been at this for 40 years and I've watched [Potato Virus Y], I've watched mad cow, I've watched the first potato wart crisis and I really feel that this one is worse than all of those things, like this one really, really hurts," van den Broek Grant said. 

"They had a crop that should have turned into millions of dollars, and all of a sudden the entire crop is valueless pretty well.

"I just can't stand by and watch the pain that they're going through. I hear it every day from them, and I just feel that I have to do something," van den Broek Grant said. 

Van den Broek Grant had been visiting farms earlier this month, talking to growers about their orders for next season.

"You walk into a packing warehouse and usually there's noise, and there's conveyors going, forklifts going, people working hard and you open the door to these packing houses now and it's dead silence," van den Broek Grant said.

"The silence is deafening. Those potatoes aren't moving. There's nothing happening, and it's extremely serious for our growers." 

Redmond said she comes at the issue as a former public servant, but also as an Islander who grew up on a farm.

"I have empathy for farmers having grown up on a farm. Many friends and family and neighbours are hit hard by this whole situation. And, also, I really feel that we don't have the full picture," Redmond said. 

"I couldn't sit by, and not try to at least help get an explanation of what's going on, and hopefully promote a solution in a small way." 

Redmond said there are several themes to the letters they have written so far. 

"The first one is Islanders felt like they were treated badly by what felt like a fairly precipitous decision on shutting the border without consultation. That was the first thread of the letters," Redmond said. 

"The second one is many people have told me that they were deeply offended by the request that the delegation that went to Ottawa from P.E.I. should bring up the auto industry in Ontario. That felt like an affront to Islanders, and that was the substance of one of the letters."