During the federal election campaign, Ontario farmers thought they had a commitment from prime minister Stephen Harper that a re-elected Conservative government would be willing to co-fund the Ontario Risk Management Program.
Quebec farmers say they received a similar assurance from then-secretary of state for agriculture Christian Paradis that Ottawa would use money from the agricultural flexibility program announced in the Conservative platform to co-fund farm support programs.
But agriculture minister Gerry Ritz says while he will talk to Ontario farmers and the provincial government, he is “not predisposed” to put federal dollars into the provincial program that sets a floor price for corn, soybean and wheat crops based on production costs.
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It has farm leaders fearing their earlier praise of the government’s announcement on agri-flex funding was premature.
“It really has us scratching our heads because the commitment from the Conservatives and prime minister Harper was clear,” Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Geri Kamenz said Nov. 6. “Minister Ritz seems to be back pedaling from that.”
The OFA has written to the minister reminding him of the letter the prime minister had sent during the campaign when the Conservatives were courting rural Ontario voters.
“I am not prepared to conclude yet that the government will break a promise because we have not talked to the minister to find out his intentions,” said Kamenz. “But I do read it as worrisome.”
In Quebec, William Van Tassel, president of the Ontario-Quebec Grain Farmers’ Coalition, said Paradis confirmed to the group during the campaign that some of the $500 million promised over four years could be used to shore up farm financial programs.
“He was very clear and we were certain what he meant,” said Van Tassel. “Now, there seems to be some misunderstanding between what Mr. Ritz is saying and what we understood to be the case.”
In an interview after he was reappointed to cabinet Oct. 14, Ritz said he will develop details about how the funds will be distributed after consultations with farmers and provinces to see what they want.
But his preference would be to see the money used to fund provincially designed programs for environment, marketing and innovation. The promise in the party platform also suggested the money could be used for coping with “costs of production pressures,” although it is only $125 million per year spread across Canada.
Ritz has a long history of opposing a return to federal investment in business risk management provincial companion programs that were phased out several years ago under the agricultural policy framework.
He has argued that province-specific income support creates unequal benefits for farmers in different parts of the country and could be subject to trade challenge.
He even voiced his reluctance during the campaign when asked a question about support for the Ontario program during an all-party agriculture debate. The platform promising regional flexibility had been published just days before.
While supporting the principle of regional program flexibility, he said there could be trouble in the detail. It would be counted against the amount Canada is able to put in its “amber box” of trade-distorting spending allowed by the World Trade Organization.
“The more money you put into amber basket programming, the less room there is to maintain our supply managed sector,” said Ritz. “So we have to be very cognizant that we never pit one group of farmers against another.”
