A change in Quebec’s provincial government will do nothing to improve Ottawa’s ability to sell its controversial agricultural policy framework in the politically crucial province, say Quebec farm leaders.
They are confident the new federalist Liberal provincial government will be as steadfast in refusing to sign the APF as was the outgoing separatist Parti Québecois.
On April 29, former federal Progressive Conservative leader Jean Charest will be sworn in as Quebec’s 34th premier and 12th Liberal chief minister. A new agriculture minister will be appointed that day.
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But Quebec Farmers’ Association president Cindy Duncan McMillan said April 21, that a new government and a new minister should not change the politics of the APF in Quebec.
“My impression certainly was that the last minister would never sign the APF without the approval of the UPA (Union des Producteurs Agricoles),” she said in an interview from her farm. “I have no doubt the Liberals will take the same position.”
Charest told them as much when he appeared before the UPA council in mid-campaign. The QFA is part of the provincial farm lobby UPA.
An official in the federal government confirmed that Ottawa expects no change in Quebec’s position.
It means a national program will be launched without Quebec, if one province after another signs on as expected over the summer.
For the federal Liberals, who have never formed a national government without substantial Quebec support, it is a difficult political issue.
Charest, a veteran of some of the federal-provincial constitutional wars, is likely to draw a comparison between constitutional isolation for Quebec and farm program isolation.
Duncan McMillan is encouraging him to think exactly that way.
“The absence of Quebec’s signature to this agreement means that once again we are left standing outside a Canadian program,” she wrote to Charest April 16.
But she also encouraged the premier-elect not to sign on federal terms just to receive federal money that agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief has said will not be paid to provinces that do not sign business risk management deals.
Since Quebec offers its farmers programs far richer and more supportive than other provinces, an agreement to run any part of the Quebec system on federal terms would mean less Quebec support, she said.
“Attempting to knock us down to a lower level in an effort to achieve equity between provinces does not make sense.”
One of Quebec’s primary objections to the APF proposal is Ottawa’s insistence on spending its share of the funding directly in each province and that there be equivalent programs across the country.
Quebec insists that would mean it has to lower the quality of its programs to meet national standards. It also would require changes in the way Quebec’s farm programs are structured, just years after Quebec reformed its programs to be more compatible with federal programs like the Net Income Stabilization Account.
Quebec insists federal money should be funnelled through the provincial funding agency. Charest has publicly endorsed that demand.
Meanwhile, delivery of a third-party report commissioned by Ottawa to examine the federal analysis of the benefits of the APF has been delayed a week to April 24.
Farm groups demanded the analysis to compare promised new support programs with existing programs and designs offered by the farm lobby.
Vanclief agreed to the third-party analysis just days before the April 1 launch of the APF era, albeit with no new programs in place, no provinces signing implementation agreements and few farm groups supporting it.
However, he then angered farm leaders by insisting the analysis be limited to federal proposals without comparisons to alternative models and by setting a two-week deadline of April 17.
Some farm officials groused that it was being set up as a “Lyle-wash” to vindicate the APF.
By last week it was clear the review, led by the Guelph, Ont.-based George Morris Centre, could not meet the short deadline and was given an extra week.
Duncan McMillan said she does not expect Charest to win any concessions from Ottawa, despite his Liberal and federalist credentials.
“The only time we’ll get movement is when we have a new prime minister and a new agriculture minister.”
