British Columbia farmers will have to wait a few more weeks before they know how a series of deep government budget cuts will affect them.
B.C. premier Gordon Campbell has asked each government ministry, except health and education, to present three cutback scenarios: a 20, 35 and 50 percent budget cut to their ministry over three years.
Agriculture and fisheries minister John van Dongen said while the government has not made any decisions yet, it is scrutinizing each government operation.
“We’re looking at absolutely everything the government is doing and asking ourselves does the government really need to be doing this, and if so are they doing it the best way they can and can we afford to do it,” said van Dongen, an Abbotsford dairy farmer.
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During the election four months ago, the Liberal government said it would have a balanced budget by the end of the term without sacrificing health and education.
Those two departments account for 66 percent of the province’s $22 billion budget.
“Whatever reduction in spending will be in the other ministries,” said van Dongen.
“We are not being singled out.”
He said nothing has been finalized, but food safety and food quality are important for his department. It also wants to continue in federal- provincial cost-shared programs, as well as safety net programs.
“This is not complete, it’s really premature to talk about what might happen,” he said.
It’s not the first time the agriculture budget has been cut. In 1996, agriculture had a 20 percent budget reduction and a 20 percent staff
reduction.
Agriculture makes up about $60 million of the B.C. agriculture and fisheries’ $80.1 million budget.
Albertans are familiar with the scenario British Columbia is now going through. In 1993 premier Ralph Klein announced drastic cuts in spending across all departments.
Each department was asked to cut at least 20 percent from its budgets. The agricultural budget dropped 26 percent from $1.1 billion in 1993 to $810 million in 1994.
Spending continued to drop to $430 million in 1998, a 60 percent reduction from the 1993 levels. The agriculture budget has since increased to $795 million.
In September, Klein asked all government ministries to reduce their base spending by one percent to maintain a balanced budget.
Departments have put initial proposals together on how they will make the cuts, but a final decision won’t be made until the Treasury Board meets in mid-October.
