Manitoba farm leader David Rolfe could only shake his head when the federal government’s package of aid to Canadians hit by rising energy costs did not acknowledge the impact on already struggling farm operations.
“I would have thought they would have recognized the impact this is having on agriculture,” the president of Keystone Agricultural Producers said Oct. 7. “The impact is huge. It really is another nail in the coffin of agriculture. If these prices hold, many farmers really will have to ask themselves if they can afford the expense of putting a crop in next year if there is no guarantee it will produce a return.”
Read Also
Trade war may create Canadian economic opportunities
Canada’s current tariff woes could open chances for long-term economic growth and a stronger Canadian economy, consultant says — It’s happened before.
Rolfe estimated the added costs of fuel, fertilizer and other petroleum-affected inputs will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, tens of thousands on many individual farms.
“It is huge.”
In Ottawa, finance minister Ralph Goodale and a bevy of ministers announced Oct. 6 a scheme of rebates to poor Canadians, help for Canadians improving the energy efficiency of their homes and creation of a petroleum price monitoring office to keep tabs on oil company activities. He said the Competition Bureau also will be given more power to act against “anti-competitive behaviour.”
But there was no specific help to energy dependent industries like agriculture, trucking or taxi drivers.
When confronted in the House of Commons by a Bloc Québecois MP complaining about the lack of help for farmers, Goodale suggested they might get help under a new plan to return money to Canadians if the annual federal surplus is larger than expected. Legislation tabled Oct. 7 will see any surplus over $3 billion divided three ways between debt payment, program spending and rebates to taxpayers.
“That is a weak response but we should not be surprised that this government ignored the special circumstance of agriculture,” responded Conservative agriculture critic Diane Finley. “Dismayed yes but not surprised.”
Liberal MP Wayne Easter, parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Andy Mitchell, said the long-term benefit to farmers from last week’s announcement is the price monitoring and strengthened Competition Bureau.
“It should force downward pressure on those prices,” he said. “The government has made it very clear we’re not going to stand for price gouging.”
But he conceded that in the short term, farmers suffering diminished income because of high energy costs will have to look to the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program for relief, even though he is one of its sharpest critics because it is slow and reference margins are shrinking.
Easter said the problem facing government is that many industries would be looking for help if agriculture was singled out.
