An opposition member of Parliament has drawn a connection between farm aid and the controversy over how the federal government handled job creation grants.
After a seven-week break, the House of Commons was back last week and dominated by opposition demands for the resignation of human resources development minister Jane Stewart.
An audit concluded that up to $1 billion in job creation funds spent by her department may have been distributed without proper bureaucratic accounting.
On Feb. 11, Reform agriculture critic Howard Hilstrom referred to the recent farmer sit-in at the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina as an illustration of the need for more federal aid for farmers.
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“Saskatchewan grandmother and farmer Lillian Kurtz has been driven to a hunger strike because the Liberal government is ignoring her pleas to address the farm income crisis,” the Manitoba MP said during Question Period.
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“At the same time, the HRDC minister has broken her own grant rules, unlawfully diverting taxpayers’ money that could have helped people like Lillian.”
He accused prime minister Jean ChrŽtien of “turning his back on farmers like Lillian Kurtz” while one of his ministers is mismanaging “billions of dollars.”
Deputy prime minister Herb Gray said Hilstrom had it wrong. The government is supporting farmers, although his calculation of the amount of aid had some people scratching their heads.
“The government is providing over a billion and a half dollars of assistance to farmers in Saskatchewan and elsewhere,” Gray said.
“We are very concerned about their problems.”
Hilstrom said it wasn’t an answer.
“The Liberals are more interested in covering up for faltering ministers than protecting Canadian farmers.”
– WILSON
