Finding a way to get money to farmers quickly must be the first priority of the new minority Parliament, says one of the key federal agricultural political players.
New Democratic Party agriculture critic Charlie Angus, easily re-elected in his northern Ontario riding on Jan. 23, said the new Conservative government will have to move quickly after its Feb. 6 swearing-in to get cash to farmers and begin the promised redesign of the safety net system.
“If they want to move on this, they will need the co-operation of other parties and I think that is possible because this is one area where I think we worked well together as an agriculture committee in the last Parliament,” he said.
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Angus also cautioned the new government and its agriculture minister not to rush into replacing the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program before a better program is ready and road tested.
“I know there is some urgency to this because CAIS simply isn’t working for farmers in this crisis, but it will be important to get the next program right,” he said.
“We need to take our time to make sure it will do what farmers want it to do. CAIS might have worked in normal circumstances but in these circumstances, it simply is stabilizing incomes at ever lower levels.”
Angus said the Conservatives should also re-examine Canada’s strategy for controlling BSE, including the reluctance of regulators to allow packing plants to conduct 100 percent testing as a marketing tool.
“We have another BSE case and since it came the day of the election, it really hasn’t been paid much attention but I think it is a reminder that we are vulnerable,” he said. “I think we have to reconsider the feed controls we have and also increase the amount of testing we do.”
However, if Angus predicts political co-operation on the farm income file, he warns of fireworks if the new government and prime minister Stephen Harper try to act on its election promise to remove the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.
“If Mr. Harper tries to pursue a hard line on that question, he will face significant political resistance in the Commons from us,” Angus said. “And we will be watching their attitudes on supply management very closely as well. They say they support supply management but want to make the wheat board voluntary. You have to wonder what their real attitude is to the mandatory nature of supply management.”
Re-elected Liberal MP Wayne Easter said the opposition Liberals also will be vigilant on the marketing board issue. He said any changes to the CWB should come only on the recommendations of the board of directors, which is largely elected by farmers.
He said the opposition will fight any attempt by the Conservatives to change board powers through cabinet order-in-council rather than legislation.
