At the 11th hour before he met his counterparts in Victoria, B.C., to discuss the national farm aid program, Manitoba’s agriculture minister announced his province will participate.
Harry Enns told reporters he has serious reservations about the program, which could add up to a $62 million tab for his government.
He doesn’t know how effective it will be in helping Manitoba farmers. Until Feb. 19, his staff was examining other alternatives, such as participating in the program at less than the full 40 percent level.
Enns admitted his options became limited when the Saskatchewan government signed on to the program.
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“Lookit, my number one concern has to be for the farmers of Manitoba,” he said, adding those involved with the lobby group Keystone Agricultural Producers “would have made my days less comfortable” had the province been the sole hold-out for the program.
Manitoba’s share of farm aid will come from the province’s rainy-day fiscal stabilization fund, and won’t affect the budget for agriculture, said Enns.
With emergency-room overflows dominating front-page news in the province, Enns said it was a challenge to convince his cabinet to throw support behind a program helping a small proportion of the province’s population.
Enns said he still believes the federal government should pay for the whole program as a “third line of defence” measure as discussed during safety net negotiations in the early 1990s.
NDP agriculture critic Rosann Wowchuk criticized the government for taking so long to announce its decision. She said the federal program provides some short-term help, but added provincial governments need to build a long-term safety net strategy.
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The president of Manitoba’s farm lobby group was relieved at the announcement.
“We’re glad they’re in for the full 40 percent,” said Don Dewar of KAP.
But he echoed some of Enns’ reservations about the program.
Dewar said the three-year average used to determine whether farmers receive aid won’t take into account expansions farmers may have made before the commodity price crisis. Farmers’ gross income may have stayed constant through last year, although their net income may have plummeted, he explained.
Dewar also said the program should not be linked to the Net Income Stabilization Account. He said farmers receiving an aid payment will have the government portion of a triggered NISA payment reduced accordingly.
Marcel Hacault, chair of the Manitoba Pork Council, said recent rising hog prices are helping farmers.
“Thankfully, the markets have done more than governments ever could or would ever want to.”
Hacault noted the aid program will consider the whole year’s income, even though hog producers were mainly hurt in the past three months of the year.
“It’s not a gold mine,” he said. “It’s a low level of support.”
