OTTAWA – The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based conservative think tank with little history in farm policy debates, has some advice for the federal government on how to make its agriculture policy close to perfect.
Eliminate the Canadian Wheat Board.
Phase out remaining agricultural subsidies, price supports and tariffs.
“The federal government has introduced some badly needed reforms to our agricultural sector,” the institute said last week in a report card on the first three years of Liberal government.
“However, there is still much to be done. Until supply management, the Canadian Wheat Board and other vestiges of government intervention are eliminated completely, our agricultural sector will never realize its full economic potential.”
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Government MPs dismissed the comments as an uninformed intervention from conservative ideologues.
The institute gave the Liberals a C grade on agricultural issues for getting rid of the Crow Benefit subsidy, agreeing to freer trade rules and creating a less generous farm income safety net.
But it complained the Liberals have not ended the culture of government intervention in agriculture.
“As a result, our agricultural industry is much less efficient than it could be,” said the report. “In the absence of such intervention, Canadian agricultural producers would be forced to operate in a more competitive environment. This would reduce prices and yield benefits to all Canadian consumers.”
The institute complained support for agriculture has been such a “motherhood issue” that those who oppose it are considered “unfeeling individuals who have no sympathy for the plight of the common farmer.”
It was much more enthusiastic about Liberal transportation policy, which has shown “excellent progress.”
The government was praised for selling CN Rail, commercializing the St. Lawrence Seaway and cutting rail transportation subsidies.
