Saskatchewan’s new agriculture minister says his first priority is a trip to Ottawa.
Dwain Lingenfelter, a longtime NDP MLA who has held several cabinet posts, said in an interview last week an all-party delegation will go to the national capital before the end of this month to press for farm aid.
Premier Roy Romanow will lead the group, which will include representatives from prairie farm groups and the Manitoba and Alberta governments.
Lingenfelter called this a “pan-prairie approach to the need for national subsidies for export grain, similar to the very large subsidies that grain farmers in Europe and the United States are receiving from their national governments.”
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He said Canadian farmers believed they could survive without federal subsidies because they thought American and European farmers would be in the same position. That hasn’t happened, leaving prairie farmers in competition with large treasuries.
“I think the federal government was either asleep at the wheel, or jumped the gun on removing the subsidies, or was playing the role of a boy scout in moving too quickly,” Lingenfelter said. “I think we have to go back to being in relative comparison to these countries that we’re competing with.”
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool vice-president Marvin Wiens agreed.
“I think there is somewhat of a shift (in thinking about subsidies),” Wiens said. “We basically walked away from government support and found out that others didn’t.”
Lingenfelter said it is “immoral” for Ottawa to be sitting on a $10 billion surplus when it cut grain transportation funding and the two-price system for wheat and farmers are now losing their livelihoods.
But while the farm crisis is his top priority, Lingenfelter is also concerned there is not enough being said about farmers and sectors that are doing well.
“I just really worry about the image that it’s a total disaster out there and that it’s a wreck, when in fact that isn’t the circumstance in rural Saskatchewan. That’s not to say that there isn’t hurt, but I think we have to focus and celebrate some of our successes as well.”
He said there is a “great divide” in rural areas between those who are doing well and those who are not.
“I don’t want this to be a one-person operation. I want it to be a big team of people coming to conclusions and bringing about policy that’s in the best interests of the farm community.”
Wiens said that will be a challenge given the diverse nature of farm groups, but he added that Lingenfelter has the farming background and government experience necessary for the job.
“He does have some real pluses going for him,” Wiens said.
Doug Thompson, Saskatchewan vice-president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, said Lingenfelter started out on the right foot when he phoned Thompson the day he was appointed.
“We look forward to working with him,” Thompson said. “He’s a forward thinker.”
He added the wheat growers would consider going to Ottawa, but their main goal would be long-term solutions to problems, not a cash payout.
