Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief last week denied Ottawa is treating flood-damaged Peace River farmers less generously than Ontario and Quebec ice-damaged farmers.
“There is no double standard,” he said in the House of Commons April 24.
But Vanclief also has not announced new federal help for Peace River farmers as requested by the Alberta government.
And while he said he soon will respond to Alberta’s plea for more assistance for farmers who have seen two consecutive harvests rained out, early indications are that the federal response will not be positive.
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Vanclief said the Peace River losses do not appear to be eligible for compensation under the existing federal-provincial Disaster Funding Assistance Agreement.
“Not as it is now, no,” he said, after he answered questions on the issue at a meeting of the Commons agriculture committee April 23. “We are looking at it, but under the rules as they are, I’m not sure.”
He noted crop insurance is available, albeit at a reduced coverage level after two failures, and there is no asset damage. Those farmers also can have Net Income Stabilization Account funds to help cover losses.
Special disaster assistance is not paid if the farmer had a private insurance option.
During the committee hearing and the next day in Question Period, Peace River Reform MP Jay Hill pressed the minister for help.
Hill noted Ottawa moved quickly to sign subsidiary agreements to the disaster assistance program for Quebec and Ontario farmers affected by last January’s ice storm. The side agreement made part-time farmers eligible for government aid on the same basis as full-time farmers.
Several weeks ago, Alberta agriculture minister Ed Stelmach asked Vanclief to do the same for the Peace River.
Last week, Vanclief told Hill he soon will respond. But he denied Reform charges that he is “stonewalling” Peace River farmers.
He said the rule that public assistance should not be paid if private insurance was available applied in Quebec and Ontario, too.
“They (Peace River farmers) have been treated exactly the same for coverage as the farmers in the other areas,” he said in the House of Commons.
All areas equal
Later, Hill said it is a question of fairness.
If help was available to farmers in Central Canada, or in Manitoba after the 1997 flood, then farmers elsewhere who suffer income loss due to natural disaster also should receive aid, he said.
“My point is not to criticize those who received help,” said the Alberta MP. “I sympathize with them. But tax dollars should be applied on an equal basis across the country.”
He said Nova Scotia farmers who were affected by drought last year also deserve help.
Hill said if help is not available as the rules are now written, they should be rewritten.
