Prime minister Paul Martin launched the Liberal election campaign agricultural policy Dec. 20 with an admission that farm support programs his government has been offering are inadequate.
“What farmers have said to us (is) ‘the program itself, the principles of the program are good, but the fact is the design doesn’t work for us,’ ” he told a news conference at a farm near Chatham, Ont. “The money doesn’t flow quickly enough and the way in which it flows doesn’t work.
“We’ll work on the design and we’ll have a new design in place in 2006,” said the prime minister. “That is very concrete and is exactly what farmers have asked us.”
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Martin also embraced the recommendations made by Prince Edward Island Liberal MP Wayne Easter in a report last summer that called for a better safety net program, a change in government attitude to recognize that low farm incomes are the result of weak market power and not farm inefficiency and a call for government action to help improve farmer market power.
He said if re-elected, the Easter recommendations on issues ranging from more support for co-operatives to a strengthened Competition Bureau will be implemented.
Martin also announced an increase in the lifetime capital gains exemption for farmers to $750,000 from $500,000, an increase in support for the ethanol and biofuel sector, benefits for farmers who adopt tillage practices that reduce greenhouse gases and reintroduction of previously announced measures including extension of advance payments to the livestock sector.
He said money from a November announcement of $755 million in farm aid for the grains and oilseeds sector will begin to flow by early February.
Critics said the Liberal promises were largely a rehash of what exists or has been promised in the past.
But Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen said the Liberal promises contained some interesting ideas including the pledge to revise the rules of the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program in consultation with farmers.
“It implies that they realize the CAIS needs changes and that is a positive thing,” he said Dec. 23. “Also, by embracing the Easter report, it is good news because the theme there is empowering farmers and that has been one of our emphases. However, we need more detail.”
CFA provincial farm leaders in Ontario and Manitoba were less enthusiastic about the Liberal plan, denouncing it for a lack of short-term help.
“I would have hoped they would have committed to support during the tough years we face before long-term policy changes kick in,” said David Rolfe, president of Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers.
Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said the Liberals continue to shortchange farmers by refusing to commit to immediate help until market conditions improve.
“It’s either something they don’t understand or have chosen to ignore completely,” he said. “The policy fails to address the reality of the current farm income disaster and leaves farmers to face their creditors as they begin to take action on loans.”
From his P.E.I. riding Dec. 22, Easter said the key part of Martin’s message was that he accepts farmer criticism of existing programs and wants to change them.
“I think it does open up opportunities for the farm community to tell the government what it needs and then to see that implemented,” said the MP and former National Farmers Union president campaigning for his fifth consecutive term.
He said Martin comes at the issue with some personal knowledge since he has a farm in Quebec’s Eastern Townships south of Montreal.
“He was in beef cattle but got out of it when he realized the losses,” said Easter. “Of course, money isn’t an issue for him, but he has seen the market reality.”
Martin is a millionaire and former shipping company owner.
