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.
