In their search for allies, provinces that argue existing federal-provincial cost-sharing rules for farm program funding are unfair and unaffordable will find less than unanimous support from federal opposition politicians.
The provinces, led by Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island, are trying to arrange a late November meeting with federal agriculture minister Andy Mitchell to press their point that a 40 percent provincial share of expensive farm programs is sometimes too much for a province whose farmer economy is in trouble.
They would like opposition MPs to pressure the minority Liberals to take the issue more seriously.
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Deputy Saskatchewan premier Clay Serby has suggested a concerted provincial and opposition campaign on this issue could extract concessions from Ottawa much as the provinces did earlier on equalization and healthcare funding.
Conservative agriculture critic Diane Finley is game.
“The Conservative party believes this agriculture crisis is the result of trade relations and it should be the full responsibility of the federal government,” she said in an interview. “On the cost-sharing, a Conservative government would be willing to open up the APF (agricultural policy framework) to make it work better. I think one national formula, one size fits all, will not do it. We have to recognize regional differences.”
She said Conservative MPs will “be working toward getting some flexibility in the formula” and would be willing to work with provincial agriculture ministers on the issue.
New Democrat agriculture critic Charlie Angus said the real problem is that many provincial governments do not give agriculture the priority it needs.
In his home province of Ontario, the Liberal government has followed in the steps of previous Conservative governments in allowing the agriculture budget to slip to just half its traditional share of the provincial budget. Provincial farm groups have been campaigning to see a doubling of the budget, making the province more capable of funding its share.
“What fundamentally disgusts me is that the provinces don’t want to carry their share and yet federal and provincial people banter back and forth about this,” Angus said. “The issue is that support for farmers has to be higher. It is the 100 percent I’m concerned about and making sure the 100 percent is enough. How that is split between federal and provincial isn’t important. It is that governments face up to their responsibilities.”
Provinces have been complaining for years about the cost of their share of increasingly expensive farm program spending, pegged unilaterally in the late 1980s by the Progressive Conservative government at 60 percent federal, 40 percent provincial.
That formula was incorporated into the APF when it was negotiated several years ago.
A year ago, newly minted federal minister Andy Mitchell agreed to discuss affordability with the provinces. There has been little progress on the issue since.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen noted that provincial ministers rushed to sign the APF despite warnings from farm groups that it was flawed. He says it is a bit late to complain about the cost-share formula they knew was in the deal when they signed on.
