opinion
In recent years, politicians have paid considerable attention to all the “subsidies” and various forms of support given to agriculture. But how often do they look at the economic burden that farmers bear?
Only a fraction of Prairie grain can be sold and used locally. Even if livestock numbers doubled overnight and someone invented a way to make lottery tickets from wheat, farmers would still have to sell the bulk of their production in export markets.
For that, they get the world price, less all the costs of moving the grain to export position. That means farmers pay, directly or indirectly, for all the fuel taxes, salaries,and corporate profits related to grain movement. Thousands of jobs and many millions of dollars in government income tax revenues depend on the flow of grain.
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It’s not a one-way street, of course – farmers also depend on their collective partnership with grainhandling enterprises to reach customers.
In this partnership, however, farmers have much less than an equal voice. They are captives of the railway/port system, with little bargaining power when grain shipments are disrupted by strikes and lockouts.
Recent, current and threatened strikes by port and rail workers are particularly threatening to farmers because of government plans to double the freight rates farmers pay.
If the Crow Benefit transportation subsidy disappears as scheduled July 31, farmers face cost increases of $15 a tonne or more.
That means farmers will pay the penalty for every tonne of grain that is prevented from moving by July 31 because of labor disruptions.
Given this situation, the federal government should feel a special obligation to do everything in its power to maintain the flow of grain, and opposition parties should expedite any necessary legislation.
Ottawa should also consider ways to allow all grain delivered to elevators by July 31 to move at the current freight rate. Otherwise, the impact of the higher rate will be felt throughout the 1994-95 price pools.
Unions, meanwhile, might be well advised to pay more attention to their public image. Prime minister Jean ChrŽtien scored a good point last week when he noted that many longshore foremen are paid more than members of Parliament. (A Saskatoon newspaper followed that up and confirmed that the foremen get an average of $77,000 a year, plus benefits, for a 35- to 45-hour work week.)
For that level of pay, farmers should have a right to expect reliable transportation of their product. If Canadian port workers can’t provide it, perhaps U.S. port workers can.
