REGINA – Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow is calling the adoption of a 10-point agricultural strategy by Canada’s premiers a victory for farmers.
“What you see here is a national acknowledgement of a blueprint for a modern-day, forward-looking, market-oriented agricultural policy that says let the farmers do what they can do the best – farm,” Romanow told a news conference.
Romanow presented the strategy at last week’s premiers’ conference in Toronto, where he led the agricultural portion of the discussion. In endorsing the strategy, the premiers agreed that change in agriculture must be dealt with on a co-operative basis.
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He said other Canadians often think agriculture is a regionalized western Canadian industry.
“In reality, agriculture is a huge economic engine in Canada and, of course, it’s essential. So what we’ve achieved here by way of a victory is a 10-provincial-premiers, two-territorial-leaders government agreement on 10 fundamental principles about the future for agriculture.”
The policy discusses issues like safety nets, the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade and the role of the provinces in international trade negotiations.
Romanow said farm safety net programs must enhance the value-added aspect of agriculture and must not distort the marketplace. The premiers endorsed a whole farm approach “with adequate sensitivity to specific commodity and regional needs for stabilization.”
The strategy calls for a formal provincial-territorial role in all stages of international trade negotiations, implementation and management. Romanow used the recent “bad” agreement on Canadian durum exports to the U.S. as an example of when provinces should be involved.
Subsidies still a problem
“But there’s another little ticking time bomb that’s there and that is the one-year blue ribbon panel, which is going to be examining both the American subsidies to agriculture and the Canadian programs,” he said.
“Now we know the Americans target the Canadian Wheat Board as a subsidy program. That’s totally false. They’ve targeted the Crow rate. That’s another issue of concern. We can’t have a situation where one order of government, say Ottawa, is entering into arrangements on agriculture which impact so greatly on the wheat producing province of this country.”
The strategy also calls for:
- Increased emphasis on agricultural research and development, information technology and education and training.
- Strong leadership from the federal government when illegitimate international actions threaten specific industries and regional economies.
- Timely ratification of the GATT and establishment of the World Trade Organization to resolve any conflicts between the GATT and NAFTA.
- Assessment of the impact of the GATT on Canadian agriculture to determine adjustments required in areas of joint jurisdictions, specifically, the changes required to domestic programs such as the Western Grain Transportation Act.
