While Eric Upshall accuses Ottawa of unfairly exposing Saskatchewan farmers to financial wrecks like this year’s, some farmers see his government as a bigger sinner.
At a recent farm aid rally in Yorkton, the Saskatchewan agriculture minister found the farmers in front of him turning their anger on the provincial, rather than federal, government.
“Give us the GRIP money. You took it all away,” heckled one farmer after Upshall said Saskatchewan can’t afford to pick up 40 percent of a new federal farm aid package.
The Saskatchewan government’s decision to prematurely end the Gross Revenue Insurance Plan after 1994 still irritates many farmers. It left the province with more than $180 million of its contributions in a surplus.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
The federal government and farmers were refunded their contributions as Saskatchewan and other provinces argued that GRIP was deeply flawed and had to be abandoned.
But instead of putting the leftover GRIP money into a new and improved farm income insurance plan, Saskatchewan’s government put the money back into general revenues, where it was used for such things as paying off the provincial deficit.
Alberta, on the other hand, came up with the Farm Income Disaster Program, which its government claims has filled the void left by the end of GRIP and what it sees as the trade dangers of the Net Income Stabilization Account.
It cost the Alberta government $64 million in 1995 and $57 million in 1996, but leaves the province prepared to deal with the present problems, says agriculture minister Ed Stelmach.
Saskatchewan’s government has no income disaster program and says it can’t afford the federal aid package. Alberta sees no problems.
Opposition charges
The leader of Saskatchewan’s official opposition, the Saskatchewan Party, thinks his province has done the worst job on the Prairies in protecting farmers from sudden income collapses.
“It’s left Saskatchewan in third place,” said Elwin Hermanson. “It shows a lack of commitment on the part of the provincial government.”
He sums up the present disparity between the two governments’ situations simply.
“Alberta put a program in place. Saskatchewan didn’t. Saskatchewan cancelled a program and never replaced it.”
Hermanson said the provincial government pocketed the GRIP surplus so it could balance its budget and win favor with voters. But he said this left farmers exposed and vulnerable to economic troubles.
“They took their first giant step almost entirely on the backs of farmers,” said Hermanson. “What they did was wrong.”
Comments like that outrage Upshall.
“That’s straight political b.s.,” said Upshall. “It really is mostly politics and not much common sense.”
Upshall said Saskatchewan already does more than its fair share of protecting farmers. He points to federal statistics that show Saskatchewan spends more than twice per capita what Alberta spends on farm programs, and nearly five times per capita the national average on farm programs.
The GRIP money might have gone back into general revenues, but the province pays out much more in other programs, Upshall said. That’s why it can’t afford to have a program like FIDP.
And the reason Alberta can afford to have its own stand-alone farm income disaster program is that it is rich with oil revenues. It can afford to go beyond the money provided by joint federal-provincial programs.
“We didn’t have the money to top it up,” said Upshall. “If the Alberta government decides to top that up with their tax dollars, they can do that. They are doing that.”
Some federal aid programs in the 1980s used to only demand 20 percent provincial funding. That has now doubled to 40 percent, an amount Upshall said Saskatchewan can’t afford. Upshall said this kind of program is unfair to his province’s farmers, who may receive less support because their province is poorer than others.
“I don’t think it’s fair to anybody in this province,” said Upshall.
But he knows he has few political levers to pull in Ottawa, and Saskatchewan’s farmers may be left poorer than their western neighbors.
Upshall knows his government is accused of not supporting farmers , but he pledged to continue his battle to cut the amount Saskatchewan has to pay in the farm aid package.
“I’m not going to accept the fact that if a province has more money, or if the federal government doesn’t feel that it wants equality, then we’re going to have disparate regions.”
