SIMCOE, Ont. – Federal agriculture minister Bob Speller said last week Saskatchewan should try harder to work with the federal government to ensure its farmers get the full benefit of recent enrichments to the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program.
He indicated that while he has not had time to concentrate on the file during the election campaign, Ottawa is not interested in a recent Saskatchewan proposal that would limit the province’s cost obligations and effectively end the established cost-sharing formula between Ottawa and the provinces.
“The amendments are particularly beneficial for farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” the minister said May 25 in his riding. “I want to see the provinces working with us so that their farmers can get the full benefits that other farmers in other provinces have.”
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In late May, amendments to the CAIS took effect when Newfoundland became the seventh province to sign. The amendments increase the maximum per-farm payments to $3 million from $975,000 and provide coverage of negative margins.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba have not signed and are refusing to fund their 40 percent of the added costs of the amendments, pleading poverty.
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman has proposed that provincial spending under the agricultural policy framework be capped.
He has suggested no province should have to pay more than three times the provincial average per capita APF funding. He calculates it would mean Saskatchewan would pay no more than $200 million per year, compared to an estimated $340 million this year before the amendments.
Wartman said under his proposal, Ottawa would pick up the difference when a province hit its maximum. It would effectively end the core funding formula of 60 percent federal and 40 percent provincial under the APF.
Speller said that change is not in the cards.
Ottawa has proposed that it pay a disproportionate share of costs in the early years for provinces having difficulty meeting APF funding demands. However, those provinces would have to pick up a disproportionate share in the later years of the five-year agreement to get back to the 60-40 share.
“We are prepared to be flexible, but the provinces have to work with us,” said the minister. “I would like to see a more co-operative attitude. Our offer to pay more of the upfront costs remains on the table but not to change the formula.”
Speller said he wants to spend more time trying to negotiate to get all prairie provinces into the enriched program once the June 28 election is over.
