TORONTO – Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl will face provincial criticism next month over Ottawa’s tendency to design and announce new farm support programs without consulting provinces that then come under farmer pressure to add funding.
When federal and provincial ministers meet in Winnipeg April 13, some provinces will raise the issue while being careful not to criticize the $1 billion that Strahl announced in Saskatoon earlier this month. He let provincial ministers know about it in telephone calls just before the announcement.
While Strahl said it was all federal money with no provincial matching requirements, Ontario agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky said it is unfair to provinces and creates spending pressures on them when they were not involved in designing the program.
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“When I chatted with minister Strahl, the word I used was surprised,” she said. “I’m sure when we meet next month, we are going to have an opportunity to identify for him that when you do this, this is the kind of pressure we are under. The caveat that comes with the announcements that there really is no obligation for the province to put up its typical 40 percent share doesn’t fly. That’s their cover, but it’s no cover for us.”
As if to make Dombrowsky’s point, Manitoba farm leader David Rolfe is now asking provincial minister Rosann Wowchuk to make her own contribution to the new income savings account stabilization program that Ottawa announced.
“There is one hurdle remaining in the development of this new program,” the Keystone Agricultural Producers president said in a commentary published in Winnipeg.
“This kind of program has always been cost-shared by the federal and provincial governments and the individual producer. Manitoba’s government must put its support behind this program and use its influence to get other provincial governments on board.”
In Regina, agriculture minister Mark Wartman said Strahl’s telephone call that morning caught him by surprise, and he complained about Ottawa’s heavy handed approach to policy design and announcement.
Even though Strahl said there was no provincial contribution requirement, he confirmed that the program can only launch if the provinces agree. Typically, federal-provincial negotiations include discussion of a 60-40 cost sharing split.ÂÂ
Beyond complaints of Ottawa’s unilateral approach, Dombrowsky and Wartman also complained about the lack of detail in the federal announcement, and Dombrowsky said it has caused problems for the province’s attempts to work out with provincial farm groups details of a new provincial support plan.
Farmers have been pressing the Ontario government for a risk management companion program to fill gaps in national programming, and the province has been receptive.
Now, expectations of federal money have been raised but it may never arrive because it is contingent on opposition parties passing the federal budget and provinces agreeing to a design for the new program, Dombrowsky complained.
“The fact that the delivery of the dollars is predicated on the passage of the budget as well puts another huge cloud over the announcement over whether or not it will actually materialize,” she said.
“If it doesn’t pass, will it form the basis of agriculture policy if there is a change of government, if this government is returned, if there is a coalition government? There are a lot of questions.”
The answers are key to what the Ontario government can work out with its farmers.
“These efforts are now somewhat frustrated by the uncertainty about what is coming from our federal partners,” Dombrowsky said.
“It’s not that we don’t think the announcement last week was good news, but there are a lot of questions. It’s difficult to get up and rejoice.”
It would be better for farmers if the two levels collaborated on policy rather than working independently, she added.
