OTTAWA (Staff) – The Liberal government is not levelling with farmers in supply management systems about the inevitability of change, a Reform Party agriculture spokesman says.
The result will be a sudden change someday that farmers will not be prepared for, Leon Benoit (Vegreville) told the House of Commons.
He compared it to the way the Liberals handled getting rid of the Crow Benefit subsidy.
“Due to a lack of honesty, openness and action on the part of previous Conservative and Liberal governments, no phase-out period was provided,” he said.
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The result of the abrupt Aug. 1 elimination of the subsidy will be many farmers leaving the land, according to Benoit.
Government refusal to warn farmers to prepare for the loss of the Crow now means many parts of the grain sector face “chaos.”
Benoit said the same will happen in the dairy industry unless the government levels with farmers, tells them they will eventually lose some of the protections they have and helps them prepare for a time when they must live from the market.
Instead, by telling farmers they can tinker with the supply management system to make it conform to new trade rules without losing much of its benefit, they are lulling farmers with false optimism.
“I suggest it would be kinder and gentler to lay the cards on the table and allow farmers and processors the time they need to make the transition from this protected industry to a more competitive industry,” said the Reform MP.
He said dairy farmers should consider whether they are better served by such frankness or by the “road-of-least-resistance” approach being followed by the Liberals.
