The Saskatchewan government is checking out how much it would cost to administer farm assistance programs instead of paying Ottawa to do the job.
Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said the recent fiasco over targeted advance payments for 116 hog producers is a good reason to consider a change.
Calculation errors by the federal administrators resulted in 93 producers getting less money than they were told to expect and 26 getting no money at all. Twenty-three were entitled to more than originally calculated.
Bjornerud said the federal agriculture department “screwed up royally” at a time when hog producers are in dire straits.
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The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board has asked the province to “take immediate steps to assume complete administrative control of the CAIS program for Saskatchewan producers.”
Saskatchewan pays Ottawa about $15 million each year to administer programs like the former Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program, now known as AgriStability.
Bjornerud said the cost of paying Ottawa to administer a program that has not worked for many Saskatchewan producers has always been one of his pet peeves.
Alberta administers its own programs. Bjornerud said officials there say it costs about 60 percent of what they would have to pay Ottawa.
“They feel their program is much more responsive,” he said, adding it is also more efficient.
The minister said he should know by spring if the province could take over. Officials are investigating what would be required, including the number of employees.
