More time needed, groups tell Ottawa

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Published: November 7, 2002

Farm organizations, with support of some provinces, are beginning to

pressure Ottawa for a one-year extension of existing farm safety net

programs to allow more time to properly design the next generation of

plans.

It is putting them on a collision course with federal agriculture

minister Lyle Vanclief, who insists new and improved versions of income

support, crop insurance and Net Income Stabilization Account programs

will be designed in time with provinces that have signed the

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agricultural policy framework.

Those three that have not signed (Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island

and Quebec) should expect no federal discussions on improvements until

they do sign.

“We can easily have the design in time,” Vanclief said Nov. 1. “We are

narrowing down the time very quickly when that can be done. It can be

done clearly in time for producers to make their decisions next year.”

Farm leaders doubt it. They note that winter crop producers already

have had to buy their 2003 crop insurance, many start their planning

early in the winter based on the programs available and the Canadian

Farm Income Program is slated to expire March 31 with no successor on

the horizon.

They are afraid that with time running out, government officials will

rush to complete the details without proper testing.

“My members have told me that rather than hurry to get things in place

for the sake of having new programs, let’s make sure they are better

than what we have now before we get locked in,” Canadian Federation of

Agriculture president Bob Friesen said Nov. 1 after a two-day meeting

of the national safety nets advisory committee.

“Increasingly, my members do not believe those new programs can

properly be in place in time.”

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Grain Growers of Canada and

Ontario Soybean Growers have made similar points in letters to Vanclief.

An official in Ontario agriculture minister Helen Johns’s office said

last week the province is worried at the slow progress in designing new

programs.

“I think the feeling is pretty universal,” said Terry Hildebrand,

president of Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan. “We

need to take the time needed to get things right. We’re better off with

another year of what we have than new programs that have not been

tested.”

It was not supposed to be like this.

Late in June, Ottawa and seven provinces signed a new five-year deal in

Halifax with a promise of a replacement for CFIP, enhanced NISA and

crop insurance programs well before expiry of the existing year March

31, 2003. Design work was to begin right away and Vanclief confidently

predicted the three dissidents would sign by the end of summer.

There also was a federal promise of $600 million per year for two

years, with delivery mechanisms and distribution methods to be worked

out for distribution by autumn.

In fact, dealing with the politics and mechanics of the $600 million

absorbed a lot of federal energy during the summer. The money is now

flowing into producer NISA accounts, over objections from farm groups

and many provinces.

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