The Saskatchewan agriculture minister wants Ottawa to cough up cash to ease a $250 million shortfall faced by the province’s farmers this year.
Clay Serby said he told his federal counterpart Lyle Vanclief about six weeks ago that this year’s crop was going to produce less money for farmers than last year’s crop.
Now, both Liberal leader Jean ChrŽtien and Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day are saying there is enough money for farmers in current safety nets.
These statements have angered Serby, who pointed out that they were made as farmers protested along rail lines and highways calling for $80 an acre, and as the president of the rural municipalities association was in Ottawa saying farmers need at least $20 an acre.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“I’ve got my two leading national politicians saying that there’s no more cash and that disturbs me in a big way,” Serby said.
“For them to say that farmers don’t need any additional assistance over and above the safety nets this year, they don’t understand what’s happening in Saskatchewan. They’re out of touch with what’s happening here.”
He said Ottawa came through with $240 million last spring through the transportation adjustment payment. A similar amount is needed again.
“It’s not $80 an acre and it’s not $20 an acre, but it really does address at least the difference between the marketplace where you have tonnes and tonnes of subsidized grain and what the actual price farmers are receiving is.”
He said the federal government is obligated to cover the shortfall because it is caused by national policy. Canada has reduced subsidies to farmers at a time when most agricultural exporters continue to subsidize.
He also said politicians who pledge to go to Washington and eliminate American subsidies will not succeed.
A recent meeting in the United States convinced him that the government will continue to subsidize.
“I will be long gone as a farmer and a provincial politician before the Americans reduce their subsidies to the level of which we’re calling for.”
Serby is also calling for an extensive review of Canada’s safety net programs. He said a single program should be implemented that includes crop insurance, income stabilization and disaster relief.
“I think it’s time for us to have that discussion. You can’t go back every year to a new well and try to drill a new money hole to try to fix an old problem.”
