IT COULD be considered Don Mazankowski’s revenge on the provinces.
In the past half decade, a little-noted trend of government farm support spending has been the narrowing gap between federal and provincial contributions.
Part of it is because Ottawa has been cutting its support levels far faster than have the provinces.
And part of it has come because the federal government has insisted that provincial capitals pick up more of the cost of farm programs.
In fact, if government economists have it right, Ottawa and the provinces will spend roughly the same amount this financial year to support farmers.
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Estimates produced last autumn by Agriculture Canada suggest in 1996-97, the federal government will spend a net $2.41 billion in support of the food sector.
The provinces collectively will spend $2.14 billion.
If this turns out to be accurate, it will mean the federal share of this year’s farm support bill probably will be the lowest ever.
Mazankowski should be smiling.
Of course, federal deficit-fighters and anti-subsidy ideologues take most of the credit.
But the campaign to shift more bill-paying responsibility to the provinces actually was launched eight years ago by Mazankowski, after he took over as agriculture minister and days after his Progressive Conservative government was elected.
At the last-ever Agriculture Canada Outlook Conference, Mazankowski essentially read the riot act to the provinces.
“The Canadian constitution declares that agriculture is a shared jurisdiction and that makes it a shared responsibility,” said Mazankowski. “One of the major challenges that we face is to share that responsibility in a manner that is fair and equitable …”
He was talking primarily about money.
During the previous three years, the Tories had used huge dollops of federal public funds to subsidize farmers – $1 billion in 1986 to alleviate grain war damage, more in 1987 and close to that in 1988 drought payments.
The provinces had been less generous, yet often managed to take some of the credit for the taxpayer largesse. During those extraordinary years on the Prairies, Ottawa sometimes was putting up $8 or $9 for every provincial dollar.
But even in the pre-trade war days, Mazankowski noted Ottawa was spending $2 for every $1 the provinces contributed.
He put provincial capitals on notice that this would change. In the years since, change it has.
The Tories began by insisting federal-provincial programs be redesigned to download more costs onto the provinces.
The Liberals are completing the job of shifting financial obligations onto the provinces.
The 1996-97 split of 53-47 is the lowest federal share since the era of publicly-funded agricultural programs began in earnest more than a half century ago.
No matter which party wins the next federal elections, the provinces and farmers can expect more of the same as the federal government continues its retreat from governance.
