REGINA – Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman says there is virtually no chance federal and provincial ministers will be able to reach agreement on the next agricultural policy framework before the current one expires March 31, 2008.
Since ministers last met on the issue in June, “little practical has happened” in behind-the-scenes negotiations between officials, he said.
“Given the gaps that divide us, I simply can’t see getting a deal before the expiry,” he said. “I believe the next time we (ministers) speak, the focus will have to be on agreeing to an extension.”
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Without an extension, funding for such popular programs as environmental farm plans and on-farm food safety could end.
With provincial elections underway in Ontario and Newfoundland, rookie federal minister Gerry Ritz has said the next meeting will not be held until after the provincial politicking has ended. It means no meeting is likely until at least late October.
A possible election call in Saskatchewan this autumn could delay it even more.
Wartman said much remains to be decided despite claims by federal officials that the key agreements have been reached and the outline of the next agricultural policy framework is clear. He repeated earlier complaints that Ottawa is being too inflexible in trying to dictate terms.
One of the key areas of dispute is a cost-sharing arrangement for the proposed new disaster assistance program. The provinces want Ottawa to pick up as much as 90 percent of the cost of disaster payments while the federal government has been insisting that local disasters should be covered by the typical 60-40 federal-provincial cost share formula.
“We need to know Ottawa’s definition of disaster before we talk cost sharing and to this point, that has not happened,” Wartman said.
“My sense is they are looking at a definition that would see most disasters defined as local and that is unacceptable. But at this point, they really haven’t been clear.”
He said that under former federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl, “the sense of respect and collegiality with the provinces was not there.”
Wartman said he hopes Ritz, a Saskatchewan MP, will be more sensitive to the problem the province has with a 60-40 cost-sharing formula that imposes a higher spending burden on the province than on any other.
“We simply don’t have the luxury of funding companion programs because we spend five times the provincial per capita average on farm programs.”
At a joint news conference with Ritz Sept. 20, Wartman raised the cost-sharing issue, offering the federal minister a chance to announce a change.
Ritz quipped that it was being amended to 50-50.
