LET’S state the obvious: Canada is in the midst of a drought. With the exception of a few pockets, the country’s agricultural regions are suffering the effects of rainfall far below normal. In some regions of Western Canada, it’s reported that the cracks in the earth are large enough to swallow Liberal MPs whole.
These are the same elected government members who have been taking a wait-and-see attitude toward drought and its attendant fiscal challenges.
But the waiting is over.
It’s dry from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island. Drought-stressed prairie crops have matured early, and harvest is confirming the worst: yields are below normal and potential profits are virtually non-existent.
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We’ve said before that ad-hoc programs are not the answer to agricultural problems in the long term. The answer is a federal agricultural policy that includes a safety net strong enough to assist farmers in times of disaster.
But in the absence of that policy, and in the absence of an adequate safety net, ad-hoc is what farmers will be asking for this fall to sustain them through the after effects of this drought.
The federal government has become quite adept at advising prairie farmers about production methods and the advantages of crop insurance and the Net Income Stabilization Program, while offering little effective assistance. That these programs don’t meet many prairie farmers’ needs discourages the feds not at all.
It may be, however, that they will find a nation-wide agricultural crisis a bit more difficult to ignore. When cattle producers, hog producers, soybean, canola, vegetable, potato and fruit growers are all affected, the resulting clamour might well be audible within the hallowed halls of Parliament this fall.
P.E.I. agriculture minister Mitch Murphy, Saskatchewan’s Clay Serby and Shirley McClellan of Alberta are all on record as recognizing the likely need for federal assistance.
When the Liberal caucus met in Edmonton last week, reporters were told drought and agriculture were prominent topics. MP Murray Calder, chair of the rural caucus, said the issues will be “high on the priority list” when the House resumes in September. We hope he is right, because at the same meeting, federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief could only repeat his mantra about crop insurance and NISA.
Meanwhile, the prime minister personally waded into the softwood lumber dispute with the United States. No doubt Jean Chrétien recognizes the potential political damage of having lumber companies shut down plants, putting thousands of people out of work.
Plant closures are certainly more visible than the gradual erosion of farmers and the loss of agricultural livelihoods across the country. But the pain is no less real.
This fall, farmers will be knocking on the federal government’s door. They will be counting on the government to let them in.
