On the eve of a federal election, agriculture minister Bob Speller announced a $71 million package of compensation for the Canadian tobacco industry and its 700 growers, most of whom are in his riding.
Critics said the hastily constructed package was little more than an election bribe, offering money to help tobacco farmers leave the industry and acquire new skills while monitoring imports of cheap tobacco that is hurting southern Ontario growers.
Evidence of the pre-election haste is that negotiations are not completed with the province or the industry on how the money would be spent and how much Ontario will contribute.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“The government is committed to providing transitional assistance to tobacco producers,” Speller said at the time of his May 4 announcement. The goal is “to develop a program to provide transition assistance and ensure the viability of remaining producers.”
Skeptics were dismissive.
Diane Finley, Speller’s Conservative opponent in the Haldimand-Norfolk constituency, said it was less a plan than a sham, and the lack of detail made it a “cynical” pre-election ploy. She said it was a verbal commitment that has no guarantees.
“Tobacco farmers are very cynical about the announcement. They want to believe it but doubt if it is a real commitment or if it is enough to really do anything,”
Meanwhile, antismoking lobbyists slammed the Liberals for sending money to tobacco farmers while starving antismoking campaigns of funds.
Canadian Coalition for Action on Tobacco chair Lorraine Fry of Toronto said in a news statement that a “pre-election bailout of 800 tobacco farmers” flies in the face of budget cuts to the Health Canada tobacco control program.
“It’s a betrayal of the public interest,” she said.
Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association, said Speller’s announcement was wrong-headed.
“Funding that strengthens the tobacco industry will inevitably prolong the epidemic and undermine the work of Health Canada,” he said.
“Funding tobacco growing while pulling the rug out from under disease prevention is cynical and irresponsible.”
The group said for every tobacco farmer, 57 Canadians per year die from the effects of smoking.
For Speller, the money was a simple matter of meeting a constituency need.
There once were more than 4,000 tobacco farmers in Canada but now there are fewer than 700. They face lower prices and competition from imported product.
In the federal minister’s riding, tobacco is by far the most lucrative farm crop with thousands of jobs depending on the sector. Speller said most of the money will be spent to buy at least half the existing farmers out of the business and to retrain them.
“I want to see this industry preserved at a level that is sustainable,” he said. “Keeping this industry sustainable is incredibly important to this area.”
