ST. ANDREWS-BY-THE-SEA, N.B. — Within weeks, water-logged prairie farmers should get an indication of what type of government compensation will be available.
At the end of the annual federal-provincial agriculture ministers’ meeting in this seaside resort July 8, federal minister Gerry Ritz said provinces have been sending in damage and unseeded acre reports and he will go to cabinet for approval of an aid package.
“The assessments have been done at the provincial level,” he said. “We now have them on our plate at the federal level. We run through them and then I approach my Treasury Board and finance (department) with numbers that will be allocated. We’re within days and weeks of making an announcement.”
Saskatchewan minister Bob Bjornerud said in an interview his province still is collecting data since it extended the deadline for claims and damage reports. But he expects an early announcement of aid.
“We won’t know the number of acres for awhile yet but really, it’s Gerry that has to go through the process,” he said. “I’m hoping in the next week or two we will have some kind of announcement for producers.”
The promise of help could come either through the Agri-Recovery program operated by Agriculture Canada that is cost-shared 60-40 by Ottawa and the affected provinces or through the Disaster Financial Assistance program that is not agriculture-specific and leads to an increased share of the cost going to the federal government as the extent of the damage grows.
In costly disasters, Ottawa picks up 90 percent of a portion of the costs in a program administered through emergency measures bureaucracy.
