SASKATOON – On Monday morning, Guy Chartier had 11,000 Crow pay-out forms dumped on his desk.
Even though the Agriculture Canada office in Regina is getting enough forms to give mail carriers a backache, the minister of agriculture has decided to extend the deadline.
“We would need 130,000 before Friday,” if they were to meet the original Sept. 15 deadline, said Chartier.
The deadline now for the Western Grain Transition Payments Program is Nov.1.
The payment is to compensate farmers for the end of the Western Grain Transportation Act and the Crow Benefit, which subsidized the cost of shipping grain by rail to export ports.
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On rented land, landowners must reach an agreement with tenants of how their share of the $1.6 billion should be divided.
Lessees who cannot reach an agreement with their landlords have until Nov. 15, instead of Oct. 15 to inform the administration office in writing.
Disagreements arise
Chartier said they have received about 20 letters from landlords and tenants saying they can’t come to an agreement on how to divide the money.
A little more than half of the 268,000 applications have been returned to the office. A random sampling showed more than 80 percent of the applications appear to be in order.
Even with the deadline pushed back, Chartier expects an interim payment of up to 75 percent to be made in January. The final payment is scheduled for July.
