Despite all the grousing from farmers and opposition MPs about Ottawa’s stingy attitude toward farmers, government figures indicate payments to farmers increased last year more sharply than almost any other area of federal spending.
According to the government’s annual financial report tabled in Parliament Sept. 18, net direct program spending on agriculture increased 20 percent to $1.822 billion in fiscal year 2000-01.
That compared to a 6.8 percent increase in overall net program spending, to $161.4 billion.
It does not take into account the costs of operating the Agriculture Canada bureaucracy.
Since Ottawa’s contribution to agricultural programs is typically 60 percent of the total bill, the federal accounting means that federal-provincial spending on agricultural programs last year topped $3 billion.
It is a significant increase from recent years and by far the largest year of farm spending since Ottawa slashed more than $800 million in farm-related budgeting in 1995.
