WINNIPEG – Manitoba will not get the additional $163 million the provincial government and farm groups requested to make the Crow Benefit payout more equitable.
On Aug. 29, federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale said there is no more money available.
Manitoba’s agriculture minister Harry Enns said he has received no official response from Goodale to a report that called for $163 million. He has only heard about Goodale’s comments through the media.
“I’m disappointed that he chose to respond in such a casual manner to what we in Manitoba think to be a pretty important issue,” Enns said.
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“I would have hoped that there would have been a more analytical response other than simply indicating through the media that our figures were muddled or distorted or we didn’t really know what we were talking about.”
Cost compared to compensation
In early August, researchers from the Manitoba provincial government, Manitoba Pool Elevators and Keystone Agricultural Producers prepared a report comparing the effect of transportation reform on farmers to the total dollars per seeded acre the federal government is giving in compensation.
The report said funding will offset nearly half the impact that Alberta farmers will feel. Meanwhile, Manitoba farmers will be receiving 32 percent compensation and Saskatchewan farmers will get about 37 percent.
The analysis concluded the federal government would have to add $163 million to Manitoba’s payout to equal Alberta’s level of coverage.
According to the agriculture minister’s press secretary Vern Greenshields, Goodale felt the report was flawed:
- The report included the impact of the St. Lawrence Seaway pooling change, which Greenshields said has “nothing to do with the federal government subsidy ending,” but is rather an end to Alberta’s subsidization of Manitoba.
- The analysis was “static,” meaning it assumed nothing would change in the future except the freight charges. Greenshields said Goodale believes the grain transportation system will become faster and cheaper in upcoming years. Also, farmers will diversify. These positive impacts were not considered in the report.
- The report had some “double counting:” It included the drop in land values plus the effect of higher freight rates on farm incomes. “They’re not really mutually exclusive,” Greenshields said. “There’s some degree of overlap there.”
Enns said he still hopes to receive an official response from Goodale. He said he won’t likely continue to make the report an issue. He said he understands the federal budget is constrained but hopes Goodale will keep the report in mind when other requests for help arise.
