OTTAWA – The federal government will not co-fund programs that base support levels on production costs, a senior Agriculture Canada official said.
Ontario and Quebec grain producers and tree fruit industry representatives have been lobbying for federal AgriFlexibility money to help fund provincial cost-of-production based programs.
The Ontario government is demanding Ottawa’s support for a provincial cost-of-production based Risk Management Program.
And in discussions about the next federal-provincial agricultural framework agreement, there have been farmer calls for the introduction of cost of production into AgriStability calculations. Liberals have suggested that could be part of their next election campaign platform.
But Greg Meredith, assistant deputy minister for the strategic policy branch, told the House of Commons agriculture committee Nov. 25 that such funding would expose Canada to countervail duty actions by other countries, particularly the United States, and the industry would lose.
“On the specific question of whether the government of Canada is interested in supporting a cost of production series of programs, the answer is no,” he said.
