Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief knows it is a political minefield but last week he again ventured into the issue of whether Ottawa should be considering a program to help farmers leave the farm.
He said the federal government would be irresponsible not to consider it.
“I do think we have to take a look at transition support,” the minister told the House of Commons agriculture committee. “I really hate to say it, but it is a reality.”
He told New Democrat MP Dick Proctor that when he first raised the issue last year, “people bit my head off.”
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But that may have been because they misunderstood him.
“It was perceived at the time that I was not supporting family farms,” he said. “Nothing could be farther from the truth. But I am a realist.”
He repeated earlier comments that in all businesses when times are tough and profits scarce, people must consider whether they can continue. If they decide against it, the federal government should have a program that will help them train for a new career or help them move to a new life.
“I think it is only fair to farmers that we consider this.”
Outside the committee, the minister said any federal program should be broader than Agriculture Canada, perhaps including funding and programs from the human resource development department.
The minister recalled a meeting with a farmer during the summer agriculture ministers’ meeting in Prince Albert, Sask., last July.
The farmer, after describing his struggle to survive, started to cry.
“He broke down in tears and said ‘help me get out,’ ” recalled the minister. “Something like that has to touch you and it did touch me. … I think it is something we have to consider in the near future but it takes funding and all of that would have to be available at the same time.”
Vanclief said he did not ask the farmer if he meant “help me get out of this crisis” or “help me get out of farming.”
But he said that since he has speculated about an “exit program” in public, he has received some support.
“It is politically volatile,” he said. “I had my head bitten off but a number of people have said it is a reality. Is there large numbers that would be involved? I don’t know but I think we have a responsibility to at least look at it to see if there is something do-able or not, is it needed or isn’t it?”
