Government assurances in mid-December that billions of dollars were on the way to help livestock producers were a cruel political deception of producers, livestock industry leaders said on Parliament Hill last week.
Money is not yet helping farmers, many producers do not have the funds or financing to buy feed through the winter and they feel betrayed.
“Let me be clear, the Dec. 19 response was a cruel joke to many of our producers,” Canadian Pork Council president Clare Schlegel told the House of Commons agriculture committee Jan. 31.
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“There were false hopes and false assumptions and false expectations that simply weren’t deliverable. The dollars that are there are currently not available to help us through the process.”
Brad Wildeman, Saskatchewan feedlot operator and vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, told the same meeting of MPs that Conservative claims are not true that they are responding to the collapse of livestock sector income because of falling prices, rising costs and a strong dollar.
“If somebody thinks the problem’s solved and the money’s flowing, they might want to come out to Saskatchewan,” he told MPs.
“I could perhaps introduce them to some producers.”
The Parliament Hill warning from livestock leaders was that a complex combination of advance payments, escalated program payments and other measures announced by federal and provincial ministers in mid-December are not getting dollars out to farmers this winter when they need help.
The livestock industry leaders, like opposition MPs, related tales of producers receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars only to find the money clawed back a few days later when other program payments become available.
And the $3 million cap on payments under the government program means some of the country’s largest and most efficient family-operated businesses have little protection from losses, they told MPs. They are losing $10 million or more.
“For example, in Saskatchewan 60 to 75 percent of hog production doesn’t get protected by the CAIS (Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization) program,” said pork council vice-president Stephen Moffett. “So you’ve got to stop and ask yourself why we have these programs.”
Hog and cattle industry leaders said their industries are bleeding equity this winter and in the case of hogs in particular, unless a loan program is announced within days, many producers would be unable to pay their bills and some will be unable to buy feed for their animals, triggering an animal welfare crisis.
The Conservative line of defence was two-fold.
On Jan. 31, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz hinted there will be more help coming in a winter budget but in the meantime, Conservatives were sending more money out than Liberals did.
“I advise (Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter) to hang onto his chair, quit sitting on his hands and support the budget when it comes up, and more cash will flow for Canadian farmers,” he said, alluding to the Liberal policy of not voting down government proposals during the past year to avoid triggering an election the Liberals did not think they could win.
“We delivered more for Canadian farmers in the last short term than the Liberal government did over 13 years, $4.5 billion and climbing.”
Christian Paradis, secretary of state for agriculture designated to speak for Ritz in Quebec, seemed to announce Jan. 31 that an extra $300 million was being sent to Quebec hog producers although there was no such government announcement.
On Jan. 29, Ontario MP Guy Lauzon, parliamentary secretary to Ritz, told the Commons that $2.5 billion is available and will flow to livestock producers.
Pork council president Schlegel said it is that kind of over-promise that is driving his producers crazy. He said it is not money available to producers.
He told the story of “a young producer in Perth County who was counting on the advanced payment program to help him through the spring and then realized the bank was simply going to reduce his credit line. That’s why we call it a cruel joke.”
