GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Alberta agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski may think all Alberta producers are united on changes to the Crow Benefit method of payment, but some farmers think the minister forgot to ask them.
“I think they’re not unified at all,” said Girouxville farmer Marcel Maissoneuve. “They have not been asked a direct question.”
During a luncheon speech to the Alberta Canola Producers Commission, the Alberta agriculture minister said he knows Alberta producers are united in their desire to change the way the Crow Benefit is paid.
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“We have to tear the structure down and rebuild it so it meets the needs of today,” he told the group.
A united Alberta can work with the other prairie provinces to develop a consensus on how the money should be paid, he said.
An agreement among prairie agriculture minsters was reached Jan. 26 when they decided to tie costs of shipping via the St. Lawrence Seaway to negotiations on the Western Grain Transportation Act.
“Alberta is very adamant to stop subsidizing other parts of this country,” said the minister.
The federal government pays the railways to subsidize the cost of transporting prairie grain to ports. Because of new world trade rules, the government now says that must change and has been considering paying the funds directly to farmers instead.
Like Meech Lake
Maissoneuve compared the agriculture debate to Meech Lake in which provincial leaders said they had consensus on the constitutional issue, but no one bothered to ask the people.
“I think the grain producers, through their organizations, haven’t been represented,” said Maissoneuve. It’s not politically correct for organizations to be seen as wanting to continue paying the $550 million Crow Benefit to the railways.
He said farmers in the Peace region of Alberta are “export dependent” and would suffer greatly by changes. Currently, the region has 15 percent of the province’s landbase, but gets about 20 percent of the provincial share of the Crow rate.
“A change in the method of payment will cost farmers money in this area.”
By paying the money to farmers, Maissoneuve estimates farmers will only get about $5 an acre.
“They should direct it to commodities who need the help and not spread over the entire acreage of Western Canada.”
