Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief’s tour of drought-stricken areas of the Prairies this week wasn’t expected to come with any guarantees of emergency financial assistance for farmers.
Vanclief has consistently said farmers must use existing programs.
That won’t sit well with Saskatchewan rural officials who have declared disasters in their municipalities and called for $50 an acre.
“I don’t think that some of our agriculture ministers and staff are quite aware of how serious it is,” said Earl Baht, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Big Arm.
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Gordon Dengler, reeve of the RM of Morris, said the province should contribute some of the relief. Perhaps if Regina paid $25, Ottawa would come up with the other half, he said.
“We really don’t care where it comes from,” Dengler said. “But if our guys would finally grab the bull by the horns instead of doing this song and dance…. They’ve got to do something.”
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Clay Serby said that won’t work.
“It’s never been successful, the province putting up its money and then hoping Ottawa would follow,” he said July 16. “There is no wisdom in doing that this time either.”
Serby, who was expected to join Vanclief for the tour, said he would ask for money for farmers affected by the drought.
“Our request will be for more money, but not at 50 cent dollars,” he said.
He added that both he and Vanclief want to see how this year’s crop turns out and how producers benefit from existing programs like crop insurance and the Canadian Farm Income Program.
“For those who don’t (participate in crop insurance) the message to them will be a bit more difficult,” he said.
Canadian Alliance MPs Howard Hilstrom, David Anderson and Garry Breitkreuz last week called for immediate help, including changes to crop insurance and a loan relief program for farmers affected by drought.
“Local governments affected by the drought must declare disaster regions,” Hilstrom said. “The provincial governments must acknowledge the problem and be prepared to assist. The federal minister must avoid starting federal-provincial disputes.”
Meanwhile, Vanclief did announce tax deferral programs for cattle producers in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
In designated areas, eligible producers can defer income tax on the sale of breeding stock for one year to replenish stock in the following year or, in the case of consecutive years of drought, in a year when the area is no longer designated.
Evans Thordarson, vice-president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said he would prefer that Ottawa allow producers to rebuild out of their own herds over a period of years and write off taxable income during that time.
“You can’t be expected to go out when it starts to rain and buy a cow herd,” he said. “In a lot of cases it’s taken two or three generations to build that herd and you can’t buy it back.”
