WINNIPEG – Federal agriculture Minister Ralph Goodale met with about 30 farm leaders and industry representatives here last week for a discussion about grain transportation reform.
Speaking afterwards to reporters, Goodale said “the number one subject” was whether the $1.6 billion Crow buyout will go to landowners or operators.
“Quite frankly, there was a difference in view around the table,” he said.
Les Jacobson, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, a farm lobby group, said most farm groups at the meeting told the minister to give the money to operators.
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Jacobson said Goodale told the group it would take “a groundswell of support, unanimous support out of the West … for him to go back and even think about changing (the method of payment).”
Ray Howe, chair of Prairie Pools Inc. and first vice-president of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, said he doesn’t think the minister will get the groundswell.
“If he said he’d pay it to the renter, then you’d have the other side up and making noise as well.”
Goodale told reporters that the money should be paid to landowners because:
- It would be easier to administer.
- The value of farmland will decline without the subsidy, and owners should be compensated.
- If paid to operators, the money would be taxable as income, and its value would decrease. Landowners can take advantage of capital gains tax rules.
Goodale said large landowners such as the Farm Credit Corporation have already promised to pass the savings on to tenants. He said he will be talking to banks and trust companies to encourage them to do the same. Goodale also said that provinces may be able to pass legislation forcing landlords to renegotiate leases with tenants, which would likely lower rents.
Howe said he made sure the minister understood the “hardship that some people would be put under” if they rent and don’t receive any part of the pay-out.
