TORONTO – Canada’s agriculture ministers have announced they have reached enough agreement on details of non-business risk management programs and they hope to receive funding authority in order to sign them into law in July.
At a one-day meeting May 30, federal and provincial ministers agreed on the outline of programs such as environmental farm plans, food safety, research and renewal, which still are operating under the authority of the agricultural policy framework that officially ended April 1.
The old programming was given a one-year extension by governments because details were not ready in time.
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Now, ministers say they are ready to ask their finance ministers for the money to officially launch the new five-year program.
Federal minister Gerry Ritz said one of the new features is agreement to build flexibility into the programs that allow provinces to spend some of the money on meeting local needs.
It is a flexibility that is missing from the business risk management programs but Ritz said it recognizes that in other programs that are not as susceptible to production distortion and trade challenge, different parts of the country have different needs.
Details of the new flexibility formula remain vague and some ministers said later they approve the principle but are not yet sure how it will work.
Ritz explained it as a deal to have a minimum base of similar programs across the country with the flexibility to deviate once that base is in place.
“What it does is we’ve set up three different groups of programs within the Growing Forward and set a base of say 25 percent of your spending has to be done here, has to be done here, has to be done here,” he said when asked to elaborate on the detail.
“Once you hit that 25 percent in a certain model, you can move the balance of your money into another one if you want. That’s the flexibility we’re working with.”
Saskatchewan minister Bob Bjornerud said later he is looking for more detail on how his government will be able to tailor programs to local needs.
“I’m not sure we entirely understand it but I think it will work out fine, being able to move money from spot to spot and spend it wisely,” he said in an interview.
Quebec minister Laurent Lessard said the deal was key for his province with its unique farm programs.
“It is recognizing our institutions and our special circumstances.”
Ontario’s Leona Dombrowsky said the demand for flexible programs has come strongly from industry groups as recently as a consultation meeting in Winnipeg last week.
But while there was agreement and smiles on domestic programming, Canada’s stance on World Trade Organization negotiations proved more contentious. Before the meeting began, there were dueling news releases from provinces over the proper balance between defending sensitive sectors in supply management and winning more market access for exporters.
Ontario and Quebec joined forces to insist that Canada not accept the increasingly firm WTO demand that any final deal include cuts in sensitive product tariff and import quota protections.
“We believe it is absolutely essential that every effort is made to protect the supply management system that we have in our country,” Dombrowsky said after the meeting.
Ottawa has promised it will not win export access at the expense of supply management, she said.
“The province of Ontario has said that no deal would be better than a bad deal.”
Bjornerud said it was important for exporting Alberta and Saskatchewan to make clear their displeasure at Ottawa’s inflexibility on supply management.
“Where we come from, we’re very concerned with the fact that we are siding with supply management to the point of maybe hurting those export markets and that’s the point we put on the table and I felt that’s the point Alberta also put on the table,” he said.
“Remember this is a diverse country and there are different aspects to it but we wanted to be sure our negotiator understood that.”
Ritz said he has no intention of tilting one way or the other.
“I reaffirmed the government of Canada’s commitment to a balanced deal that’s good for all Canadian farmers at those talks,” he said.
“I made it clear we’re going to continue to stand up for our supply managed sectors. As well, this government is working hard to open new markets and we’re also making the most of those markets close to home.”
