Saskatchewan farmers want spot-loss hail coverage back under the provincial crop insurance program, says opposition leader Dwain Lingenfelter.In fact, it’s the biggest issue farmers raise, the former NDP agriculture minister said. He asked current agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud in the Saskatchewan legislature last week if farmers could expect that to happen.Bjornerud said it would be too expensive for both the province and farmers to bring it back.”It’s a $70 million touch,” he said in an interview.He said the federal government used to cost-share spot-loss hail but has now allocated that money for other agricultural programs, and that means the province and producers would have to go it alone.Bjornerud admitted he wanted spot-loss hail reintroduced and campaigned on that promise.”I didn’t know at that point that the federal government, once they withdrew their funding, wouldn’t reinstate it as they did before,” he said. “I was going on the idea that they would take their cost-share and we would take ours and then it would probably be affordable. We would certainly have looked at it more closely than we did.”But Lingenfelter said federal funding isn’t the issue.”The federal government can negotiate any kind of a deal they want,” he said.The then-NDP government re-moved spot-loss hail from the program in 2002, saying the private sector could offer the coverage instead.Bjornerud repeatedly called for its reintroduction while in opposition, and a Meyers Norris Penny review of the program done for the Saskatchewan Party government in 2008 recommended that be done.The minister said producers would have to give up other improvements made to agricultural programs if they want spot-loss hail back.Lingenfelter added the province cut $100 million from the agriculture budget this year and could have used that money for hail coverage.Bjornerud replied that shows how out of touch Lingenfelter is, considering the cuts to the ministry budget were based on federal estimates of the cost-shared programs for this year.He said when Lingenfelter was elected leader of the NDP nearly a year ago, and named himself agriculture critic in the legislature, he pledged to raise rural issues.However, the spot-loss hail question was the first rural issue raised during Question Period since the spring sitting began in early March.But Lingenfelter said he has submitted many written questions to the minister.”If you’ve been following, I’ve asked 100 questions of the minister,” he said in an interview. “Sixty of them, I’ve got a response, 40 no response.”Assembly records show Lingenfelter has received answers to 45 of the 51 written questions he has asked of Bjornerud since this session began last November. He also asked another 18 on the day of their exchange last week, which should be answered this week.Other opposition members have asked questions that included the agriculture ministry. NDP house leader Kevin Yates, for example, asked nine questions about costs incurred by the minister’s legislative secretary, Greg Brkich.
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