Four of Canada’s agriculture ministers say they want an immediate cash payment from Ottawa for farmers.
But they aren’t sure how much they want.
After a meeting in Regina on Feb. 9, the ministers from the three prairie provinces and Quebec said they agreed on the need, and will take the next month to determine how great it is.
“We are not releasing it today because we don’t have all of our ministers here and that number has not been identified by each of the provinces,” host minister Clay Serby said.
Read Also
Government, industry seek canola tariff resolution
Governments and industry continue to discuss how best to deal with Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, particularly canola.
“The number you’re looking for today, we’ll have available for the federal minister when we meet in March.”
However, Serby has recently said Saskatchewan grain and oilseed farmers need $400 million because of low prices. Manitoba minister Rosann Wowchuk said the shortfall for that sector in her province is $200 million.
The ministers also agreed that existing safety nets need review, but not necessarily more money.
“There may be opportunity within them to look at extracting some of those resources and making them available in other ways,” Serby said.
The ministers attempted to put a positive spin on the meeting.
Wowchuk said it was one of the most productive she has attended because the provinces were looking at the collective need.
“Usually we end up negotiating in a province. We have to work more collectively for Canadian producers.”
She said the discussion about reviewing and perhaps adjusting safety nets rather than simply adding more money to them was new.
“We haven’t talked about this before.”
Ty Lund from Alberta said the absence of several ministers does not diminish the importance of what the meeting accomplished.
Ontario appointed a new minister one day before the meeting, and another provincial minister was snowed in. Officials from all provinces did attend.
“We came to this meeting to try to see what we can do in other areas and to get a sense from other ministers what is important and what variances we can use in the existing programs to achieve the necessary help that farmers need,” Lund said.
He proposed a national program to address farm input costs, which was also discussed.
Quebec’s Remy Trudel said he had to add $250 million to his budget last year because of the serious financial crisis.
“The needs are in the provinces. The cash is in Ottawa,” he said.
