The election-bound minority Parti Québécois government is promising to spend millions of dollars to fill in the gaps in farm support funding cuts implemented “by Ottawa” April 1 last year.
Quebec agriculture minister François Gendron has announced that provincial farmers can expect more than $11 million a year in compensation.
Details have not yet been announced.
The Growing Forward 2 deal that reduces the payment trigger point for AgriStability from a 15 percent decline in eligible income to 30 percent was designed and approved by Ottawa and all provincial and territorial governments, including Quebec.
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Farm cash receipts in the first half of the year were up 3.3 per cent over the same period last year buoyed by livestock receipts. Overall receipts between January and June totalled $49.6 billion, up $1.6 billion from the same period last year, Statistics Canada reported.
Now, with an election expected this year, the Quebec government is promising $7.8 million in compensation to farmers facing support cuts under AgriStability, raising the trigger level to 80 percent from 70 percent income drop.
The program will be available only to producers not in supply management or the provincial insurance ASRA program that is cost-of-production based.
Meanwhile, the Quebec government also is offering farmers $3.5 million annually to match benefits available to Ontario farmers under the province’s Risk Management Program that provides farmers with the option to buy income risk coverage based on production costs.
The federal government refuses to co-fund the RMP, arguing that cost-based support opens the risk of trade challenges.
The minority Ontario Liberal government has capped the cost of the RMP at $100 million, arguing that Ottawa should add its $160 million under the federal-provincial 60/40 cost-shared funding formula.
Both Ontario and Quebec minority governments face elections this year with rural seats at play.
