OTTAWA — The Liberal government last weekend dodged a potentially-embarrassing bullet. Delegates to a party policy conference decided to water down a Saskatchewan-inspired proposal that the Crow Benefit subsidy be paid to farmers.
They approved a more general resolution that Crow Benefit payments should be reformed to ensure they:
- treat all producers equitably.
- encourage diversification on the Prairies.
- promote soil conservation.
- adhere to international trade rules.
The original resolution from the Saskatchewan Liberal Association complained the current pay-the-railways system discourages value-added, discriminates against the cattle industry, promotes soil degradation and violates some international trade rules.
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Therefore, the government should take immediate action “to pay the (Crow Benefit) subsidy directly to the farmers.”
Since agriculture minister Ralph Goodale is trying to deal with the Crow Benefit issue as part of a broader debate about the future of the Prairie grain industry, approval of the resolution as party policy could have been embarrassing.
Goodale, MPs and other party players, anxious to avoid any appearance that the party has made up its mind on the issue, worked at the convention to find a compromise that would not tie Goodale’s hands.
“The way it was worded, it would have spiked the government and it would have spiked the minister and it is his call in the end,” said Saskatchewan Liberal Red Williams. “It is important that his hands not be tied.”
Still, Williams said the fact that such a resolution came out of Saskatchewan reflects the political mood of the province, which has changed on the grain subsidy issue.
Traditionally, Saskatchewan has been home of the most fierce support for the Crow rate and later, the pay-the-railways option.
“That has changed,” he said. “They might not like me saying it but I think you will find that the government and even Sask Pool have softened in their position. They are at least willing to talk about change.”
The Saskatchewan Liberal Party also lost a bid to have the convention endorse a continental market for grains.
The compromise resolution approved by delegates called for changes to the continental marketing policy “only after adequate consultations with producers.”
But while the Liberals thought they had avoided a potentially damaging public debate with its compromise position, at least one observer in the audience thought the compromise contains the seeds of a problem for the government.
Yvan Loubier, Bloc QuŽbecois finance spokesperson and a former chief economist for Quebec’s farmer’s union, said the Liberal resolution calls for Crow Benefit money to be used to “encourage diversification.”
“That means federal money being used to subsidize western production in a way that is not done for Quebec. Quebec will never accept that.”
