The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce says it’s time for the provincial government to put up or shut up.
The association has unanimously passed a resolution asking the province to introduce a cash payment program for Manitoba’s hog farmers to counteract the financial impact of the U.S. country-of-origin labelling legislation.
In its resolution, the MCOC notes that Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario have all announced cash payments for hog producers.
Chamber president Graham Starmer said the resolution is an unusual step for the organization.
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“We’re not an organization that frequently suggests financial support for other organizations,” he said.
The MCOC felt it had to make an exception and pass the resolution, given the political and economic conditions in the pork industry, said Starmer, who compared the COOL issue to the BSE crisis earlier this decade.
“When BSE came along, we were very supportive… to get behind our cattle producers and provide them support, because it was involving circumstances of which they have little or no control over,” Starmer said, adding that trade legislation like COOL is also beyond producer’s control.
In an effort to combat COOL, low prices and high feed costs, the Saskatchewan government announced $71 million in support for the province’s livestock industry. The funding included $20 per hog sold and $10 for all isoweans, weanlings and feeder hogs produced between July 1, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2009.
The Alberta government announced its plan to support the struggling livestock sector when it committed $356 million to create the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency. As part of that funding, Alberta’s livestock producers received $150 million in immediate support.
Manitoba hog producers are still waiting for a provincial injection of cash.
Another loan program is not acceptable, said Andrew Dickson, general manager of the Manitoba Pork Council.
“We can’t do anymore debt,” said Dickson, referring to a provincial loan program for hog farmers announced last spring. “Producers have incurred more debt, they’ve exhausted their bank lines of credit, and they’ve taken on advanced payment programs. We can’t finance what we’ve got, let alone take on more.”
In March the Pork Council sent a letter to Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk, asking a for a payment program similar to Saskatchewan’s.
There was no action on that letter, Dickson said, but council representatives had a meeting with premier Gary Doer following a recent pork rally.
“He had already seen the request… and he said he was going to think about it,” Dickson said. “But we haven’t heard back from him.”
Dickson said the premier expressed frustration with the inability of stability programs to deal with financial emergencies in the agriculture sector.
Stressing that message, Wowchuk said the province would prefer to use Agri-Stability, the federal government’s risk management program, to deal with this crisis.
“We really have to look at existing programs,” she said. “In the previous year, they (pork producers) asked for a Targeted Advance program (within Agri-Stability). And if they would ask for that program again, there is money that they could access.
“This is a national issue and we have to work together with the federal government. And the federal government has also said we have to work through existing programs,” said Wowchuk.
