A deal may be in the works to get government aid money to cow-calf producers in Manitoba and possibly eastern Saskatchewan whose pastures and feed were damaged by excess rain this year.
It would be a federal-provincial payment under the AgriRecovery program that announced $450 million last summer for washed out crop producers.
Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said Nov. 18 that federal-provincial discussions about a possible AgriRecovery aid package have been held with Manitoba officials.
Opposition MPs say any help for the Manitoba Interlake area should also be extended to water-affected producers in eastern Saskatchewan, and Ritz talked about discussions with “provinces.”
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“We continue to work with the provinces on the AgriRecovery file,” Ritz said after appearing before the House of Commons agriculture committee.
Assistant deputy agriculture minister Rita Moritz, who is in charge of the farm financial programs branch, told committee members that officials are assessing feed issues in the Interlake to determine how much other programs likely will pay and whether that meets the need.
“As quickly as possible (we) will wrap that up to see if a further AgriRecovery response is warranted,” she told Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter.
Like other MPs, he had been deluged with e-mails from Saskatchewan and Manitoba cattle producers complaining that they have received nothing while their crop-producing neighbours received help.
Linda Oliver, a cow-calf operator in Mozart, Sask., helped organize the e-mail blitz.
“We need help and politicians don’t seem to be listening,” she said in an interview.
“Perhaps more shocking, our farm groups don’t seem to be representing us.”
