Saskatchewan agriculture minister Mark Wartman was warned last week of growing discontent in rural areas, even as he pledged to do all he could to find more money for farmers.
“My drive personally is to see 100 percent funding for CAIS (Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization),” he told the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
“I do not want to see you disadvantaged in any way.”
But some said the economic situation has already reached the breaking point.
About a dozen rural municipalities have declared themselves economic disaster areas after 18 months of a closed U.S. border and a severe, early frost this year.
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“There is a growing storm out there,” Garfield Lutz of the RM of Bjorkdale told Wartman during the APAS annual meeting.
Lutz agreed with Wartman that the 60-40 federal-provincial cost-sharing arrangement for CAIS doesn’t work for Saskatchewan, and added: “Isn’t it ironic that’s exactly the formula you’re using on us in the school tax situation?”
Wartman said he won’t know until later this month, when the final 2003 CAIS statistics are available, if the province will be able to fully fund its share of the program.
Ottawa’s estimates of the provincial share have been changing dramatically, he said. At one time it was as high as $360 million and it is now between $120 and $250 million.
Wartman said it would be a challenge to come up with 100 percent funding of those kinds of numbers. The province allocated $99 million in this year’s budget.
APAS president Terry Hildebrandt said he doesn’t think the number will be as high as the estimate but will be “a more obtainable figure.”
During his speech to delegates, Wartman encouraged them to stand together to fight for their industry.
He noted that the farm debt to income ratio is 68 to one; for every $10,000 of income, a farmer has a “staggering” $680,000 in debt.
But Saskatchewan farmers have a history of resilience, strength and courage, he said.
“This is our inheritance, no matter what the odds, persevering,” Wartman said.
He added that united producers could put pressure on Ottawa to make changes to farm income programs.
“These programs do not work for Saskatchewan. They need revision.”
Wartman also said that the government does “give a damn,” referring to a recent comment from Hildebrandt in the media that the province should have used some of its recent $900 million windfall to fully fund CAIS.
“Anyone that would say anything different is absolutely, absolutely wrong,” he said.
However, Bob Friesen, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, in his speech to delegates said the Saskatchewan government “doesn’t seem to be sensitive to the plight of agriculture.”
Friesen said the province knew when it signed on to CAIS that it had an obligation to farmers.
