Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief ended the year promising farmers the re-elected
Liberal government will move quickly in 2001 to deal with farm income problems.
Opposition MPs and farm lobbyists vowed to make sure he keeps the promise.
Vanclief said in an interview after a Dec. 12 cabinet meeting that the issue of the farm
income crisis had been debated at both cabinet meetings held since the Nov. 27 election.
“There is no question (there will be early action),” he said. “As we have discussed as a
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cabinet the requirements and necessities of this mandate, agriculture is front and centre … .
It will continue to be raised and methods sought in the near future in order to address this.
We know the seriousness of it.
“There is no simple answer to it. We need to look at a several-pronged approach in order to
help address it.”
He said the Liberal government understands that farmers used the last federal election to
send a political message that they need more hel-10-P.
Although the Liberals held all but one of their rural Ontario seats in the Nov. 27 election,
they were shut out of rural areas in the West.
“The message was clear that the farmers want the government to do more to assist them to
adjust to the realities of the day, those being low market prices, more support in innovation
and technology and research and development, as well as working in as many ways as we
possibly can as far as leveling the playing field with what is being done by some other parts
of the world,” he said.
To underscore the point, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture executive board issued a
statement calling on the government and MPs from all parties to make agricultural policy a
priority in the new Parliament. It opens Jan. 29 with a throne speech outlining government
intentions.
“Farm groups are extremely disappointed with the lack of attention paid to agriculture as a
national election issue,” CFA president Bob Friesen said in a Dec. 15 statement.
“Current subsidy levels within the context of trade have created a rock-and-a-hard place
scenario for farmers. We need strong government leadership to preserve orderly marketing
structures and make the necessary investments in rural infrastructure and farmer viability.”
Opposition parties last week vowed to keep up the pressure for a more generous
government response to farm income woes.
Saskatchewan Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz said the government should ship up
to $1 billion quickly, including hundreds of millions not yet spent in the farm aid budget.
“There isn’t enough money in agriculture to pay the bills,” agreed newly elected Prince
Albert, Sask., MP Brian Fitzpatrick.
Vanclief also said he did not take the strong Liberal showing in rural Ontario as a sign that
the government can ignore Ontario grains and oilseeds farmers and their demands for
subsidy levels equivalent to American levels. He said Ontario farmers, despite their
complaints, realized the Liberals had increased safety net funding in the last term after
slashing it in the first term.
“Many of the other parties were coming forward and were not making it clear they were
going to do more than that,” said the minister.
“We have demonstrated that we have been there as much as we possibly can be in the past.”
