Governments should provide Canadian farmers with some short-term tax and financial relief, as well as a promise to enrich the long-term safety net, prairie farm leaders were expected to say at a Jan. 23 news conference in Regina.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool president Marvin Wiens said their message was aimed at both Ottawa and Regina.
“Governments need to sharply increase the attention this issue is getting,” Wiens said in an interview before the news conference, which was held after Western Producer deadlines. “Heading toward seeding, people are very nervous. We have a real problem here.”
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Joined by a representative of the Canadian Co-operatives Association, the farm leaders called for:
- A commitment by Ottawa to eliminate the four cents per litre excise tax on diesel fuel. Taxes on fuels used to transport grain also should be tax-free.
- A doubling of the amount of interest-free cash advance farmers can take in the spring, to $40,000 from $20,000.
- An “energy-cost offset program” to compensate farmers for some of the dramatic increases in energy-related costs being felt this year, such as fuel and fertilizer.
Wiens said the cost of a litre of diesel fuel has risen 31 percent compared to last year. Bulk propane costs are up almost 50 percent.
“These are enormous increases farmers are facing while the outlook for prices is not good again,” Wiens said. “Governments have to look at this as a priority issue.”
The pool president also said he wanted to direct some suggestions to the new premier of Saskatchewan, who will be elected at a New Democratic Party convention Jan. 27.
He said the new leader should reduce crop insurance premium costs, as Manitoba and Alberta have done.
Both levels of government should immediately work to improve the national safety net program.
Wiens said only half of the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program money that was supposed to flow to Saskatchewan for 1999 has made it to the province – $150 million out of a potential $300 million.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Canada farm income projections to be released this week are expected to show a sharp drop in the outlook for Saskatchewan, which has already been reeling from back-to-back years of poor income, he said.
“There is a real frustration among farmers that these issues are not being addressed quickly and adequately,” Wiens said.
The farm leader’s message was that with a new government in office in Ottawa and a new premier starting the job in Regina, it is time for the mistakes of the past to be corrected.
