Saskatchewan’s decision to support its livestock producers has strained a cordial relationship with Ottawa.
The province announced $71 million for cattle and hog producers Feb. 26, saying the money is its 40 percent share of a traditional cost-shared program and Ottawa should provide its 60 percent or other meaningful support.
“We are tired of the federal government’s excuses for not doing anything meaningful to date,” said provincial agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud.
Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz replied that Ottawa has delivered more than $1 billion to Saskatchewan producers in the last two years. He called the province’s per head support program a handout.
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“The government of Saskatchewan raised this scheme at the federal-provincial meeting last month – every other province soundly rejected it,” he said in a statement.
Ritz said such a program would risk trade retaliation. In that case, he added, all the hard work done to reopen international markets would be for nothing.
“There is no way I could put federal money in there because it would increase the scale and visibility,” he said.
“What we don’t need is a program that gives groups like R-CALF the ability to complain about unfair Canadian subsidies.”
R-CALF is a U.S. cattle group that has initiated court battles to keep Canadian cattle out of the United States.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association also said the payments present a high risk for a countervail complaint.
Saskatchewan officials said other provinces have made similar payments, and one of this size is not likely to attract attention.
Other provinces that have announced livestock assistance packages include Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The programs range in size from $6 million to $465 million and contain combinations of loans and/or direct payments. Some are tied to specific requirements, such as age verification of calves.
CCA director of international relations John Masswohl told the Commons agriculture committee Feb. 26 that these are just Band-Aids, and a national program would be better.
Bjornerud said he’s frustrated that Ottawa hasn’t responded to the problems in the livestock sector more than it has.
And while he said he hoped the disagreement over this funding isn’t the end of a good working relationship, the words exchanged last week indicate that it isn’t as cozy as it once was.
Shortly after Bjornerud was named to his post in late 2007, he said any differences with Ottawa would be ironed out behind closed doors. It was a new era of co-operation between the two governments, he said, and he wouldn’t be complaining in public about his federal counterpart.
NDP agriculture critic Pat Atkinson said the government now knows what the previous government had long known: “The federal government is going to position itself in order to get a majority mandate and that doesn’t include Saskatchewan, because they already have 13 of 14 seats.”
She also said the package is too little too late.
Cattle producers are eligible for $40 per beef breeding cow and bred heifer they owned as of Jan. 1. Hog producers can receive $20 per market hog sold and $10 per head for iso-weanlings, weanlings and feeder hogs produced between July 1, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2009.
Application forms are available at rural municipal offices, agriculture ministry offices and on-line. The deadline is June 15.
Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association president Ed Bothner said the payments are a stopgap to tide producers over.
He said the real solution lies in restoring markets to pre-2003 levels.
However, he also credited Bjornerud for coming up with the money and then asking Ottawa to join in.
“I think it shows a lot of courage on Bjornerud’s part and I think it’s good.”
Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association president Jack Hextall said the money should have been available through AgriStability, but bridge funding had to be implemented because that program doesn’t work.
Hextall said it’s frustrating to listen to comments from federal officials who don’t seem to have heard the industry’s message.
“We really need some leadership at the federal level,” he said.
SaskPork chair Joe Kleinsasser agreed.
“We’re not naive to think that bureaucracies can solve all your problems,” he told reporters. “But when they continue to insist that the safety net programs that are out there are sufficient … it’s ridiculous. AgriStability is a soap opera.”
He said the Saskatchewan pork industry lost $100 million in the last year and is now losing its basic infrastructure as barns stand empty.
