TORONTO – The federal government-led drive to negotiate a new long-term
farm policy by this summer hit snags last week when agriculture
ministers met in Toronto to review progress.
The agenda for a summer deal to create a new national one-big-program
deal almost certainly has been set back.
Ministers issued a communiqué Jan. 24 claiming “considerable progress”
toward finding a new national program to replace the existing
patchwork, which expires March 31, 2003.
“We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us,” federal agriculture
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minister Lyle Vanclief told a news conference at the end of the one-day
meeting.
“It is an opportunity that will only be realized with the participation
of everyone, the federal government, provincial governments, producers
and all other stakeholders in the industry. We are up to the challenge.”
But the day produced some roadblocks to Vanclief’s earlier hope to have
a new national agreement in place by a ministers’ meeting in Halifax
next June.
n* Quebec agriculture minister Maxime Arseneau refused to sign the
communiqué, complaining that the federal government was being too
inflexible.
Quebec has recently overhauled its provincial array of farm programs
and does not want to fold them into a new national program proposed by
Vanclief.
n* Provincial ministers told the meeting their farmers are nervous that
politicians are rushing to sign an agreement before they have a
detailed understanding of what its impact will be on farmers.
“Absolutely we need more consultation with farmers before we sign
anything,” Manitoba minister Rosann Wowchuk said in a Jan. 28
interview. “We need more detail.”
n* The goal of a June signing in Halifax has been dismissed by many
ministers as unrealistic.
“We have a lot of work to do yet so I think it is a stretch to imagine
a deal by June,” said Saskatchewan minister Clay Serby.
Saskatchewan used the Toronto meeting to propose a new safety net
system that would cost Ottawa hundreds of millions of dollars more in
farm supports. “These are details which still have to be negotiated,”
he said Jan. 28.
Even Vanclief has backed away from talking about a detailed agreement
by June. Instead, he said more consultation with the industry is needed
and the June goal is now an “umbrella agreement” with details to come
later.
Ministers will hold a hastily arranged meeting in April to receive
reports from officials on some of the proposed details.
Still, Vanclief said the details must be settled this year so farmers
know what support to expect next year.
“When we get towards the end of 2002, producers out there need to know
what the system is for their 2003 crop year so they can make decisions
based on that,” said the federal minister.
His provincial colleagues and farm lobbyists increasingly question
whether the rush to sign a deal is in the best interests of farmers.
“We may be getting a Canadian farm bill here and I don’t think the
objective should be to get it signed by a set date,” said Canadian
Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen.
“The objective has to be to get it right and farmers need to have the
comfort of being involved in deciding the details to make sure it works
for them.”
