Despite hog industry pleas that existing farm safety net programs are not doing the job, the federal government said programs will not be changed, at least for now.
The government gave two explanations for the lack of action.
At a March 17 appearance before the House of Commons agriculture committee, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said Ottawa cannot act alone to change programs.
Proposals have been made to federal and provincial ministers and further research is underway that will lead to debate at the next federal-provincial ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon in July but there is no agreement to change programs.
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“The federal government does not operate arbitrarily,” Ritz told Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who demanded that the Conservative government change programs to get more money to hog producers.
“As you well know, it’s a shared jurisdiction between the federal government, the provinces and territories so changes to AgriStability I do not make arbitrarily.”
Later, he told reporters that it is a money issue both in Ottawa and provincial capitals.
“The officials are crunching some numbers again,” he said. “It’s a matter of affordability for provinces and territories and the federal government, for that matter. We’ve got a deficit we’re working on.”
Later, assistant deputy agriculture minister Greg Meredith, responsible for the strategic policy branch, told MPs on the committee the reluctance to change programs now comes from the fact that governments are planning changes when the next group of agricultural policies take effect in 2013.
Ministers have looked at proposals to change the viability test in AgriStability and whether payout caps in existing programs should be increased, he told MPs.
“In both instances, they’ve declined to make those changes,” he said. “Right now, I think the thinking is that we are undertaking a fairly significant review of risk management programs in conjunction with the provinces and territories and as a result, the feeling is perhaps we should be waiting, looking at the outcome of that review before we make more parameter changes.”
During his committee appearance, Ritz insisted that existing programs have been helping the hog industry, sending an estimated $1 billion to the sector for the 2008 and 2009 AgriStability and AgriInvest years.
Advance payments have put more than $300 million in producer hands.
