REGINA – The federal agriculture minister has put his provincial counterparts and farm groups in an impossible position, according to the Saskatchewan agriculture minister.
Darrel Cunningham said Ralph Goodale has asked farm groups and prairie agriculture ministers to come up with suggestions on how to change the grain transportation system. But until the federal government says how much money it will provide to replace the Crow Benefit and how it is planning to change the transportation system, it is hard to make any recommendations, Cunningham said.
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“It’s very difficult for us to come up with our piece of a plan when we don’t see any overall plan,” he said. “They’ve done away the national transportation plan that we’ve had for 90 years and we don’t see a vision of what replaces it.”
Recently, Cunningham and the Manitoba and Alberta agriculture ministers had a conference call with Goodale in which they stated their support for a $7.2 billion buyout of the Crow Benefit. That’s the sum a group of 13 prairie farm organizations wants to see replace the transportation subsidy.
Cunningham said the situation probably won’t be cleared up until after the federal budget is released. That will show how much money there is for a Crow buyout. After that, a new regulatory regime will have to be formulated.
Whatever happens, Cunningham wants to see details soon.
“We have producers who are now committing grain and making spring seeding decisions, and we don’t have much to work with,” he said.
