As it did in the deficit-busting 1995 Liberal budget, agriculture will take one of the hardest hits as the Conservative government moves to eliminate the deficit in four years.
Although precise numbers are not yet available, it appears most of the savings will come from departmental personnel cuts because most farmer program payments are required by law when there is demand.
“Details will be rolled out by each department over the next weeks but overall, 70 percent will be operational and not program,” a government official said March 29 in a background briefing for journalists.
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In his March 29 federal budget tabled in Parliament, finance minister Jim Flaherty projected that within three years, Agriculture Canada and its related agencies will be expected to spend $310 million less than they do now.
Spending cuts begin slowly in 2012 with just $17 million in cuts projected but that will increase more than nine-fold the next year.
It will be the fifth highest departmental contributor to the government’s plan to reduce spending by $5.2 billion annually within three years.
In the build-up to the budget, each department was asked to offer proposals on how it could reduce spending by five or10 percent. Agriculture Canada is slated to cut spending at the highest end of the range.
According to budget papers, part of it will come from integrating Agriculture Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency “back office functions” like personnel management and internet technology services.
The budget includes a promise of $44 million in cash over two years to the Canadian Grain Commission to cover its continuing deficit until the CGC and the federal government decide how and by how much to increase Grain Commission user fees. Changes to the Canada Grains Act are expected to be introduced to Parliament later this year.
Without details, the budget says federal-provincial negotiations this year to create the next generation of farm programs will create “a refocused suite of business risk management programs.”
The government promises $51.2 million in new funding for food safety programs over two years including more money for CFIA as well as Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The budget said a promise last year to forgive part of the student debt for healthcare workers and doctors planning to practice in rural Canada will begin in the fiscal year beginning April 1.
And it promises again more broadband internet service for rural areas through broadband service auctions planned for 2012.
Canadian international aid spending will see an annual budget cut of $377 million within three years.
