Farmers no closer to getting answers

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2003

(OTTAWA) - The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is disappointed with the initial report from the third party analysis of proposed business risk management programs. Although only the executive summary has been released, and not yet the full report, it is already apparent the industry will not get the answers to the questions is put forward.

At the beginning of the third-party process CFA expressed its concern the terms of reference laid down by the government precluded the third parties from conducting new research. The terms limited the third parties to examining the analysis already done by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). This limited the availability of data to the third parties. The terms of reference also excluded key issues including affordability, producer-government cost sharing, and the level of support provided to producers.

"We hoped the third parties would take a broader interpretation of the terms of reference in order to answer producers' questions. To our great disappointment, that apparently has not happened," said Bob Friesen, CFA President. "Despite serious concerns CFA participated in this process because we were led to believe producers' questions would be addressed. CFA hoped this process would create a greater depth of understanding. But from what we have seen, this report does not address the outstanding issues."

The executive summary recognizes the government's proposed program design does not address the important issue of trade injury, and may undermine crop insurance programs. However, by its own admission, the report does not deal with the serious issue of the possible trade implications of the government proposal. CFA has an issue with the narrow definition of income stabilization and need the government used in designing its programs and wanted to see an analysis of programs using much broader definitions. The third parties did find that the industry program proposal would result in "better measures of stability for some industries and disaggregations than does the [government's] proposed program." Despite that, the report unfairly dismisses the industry proposal because it currently exceeds the funding envelope. "Program costs can be adjusted. What is important is whether the program design is an improvement," noted Friesen.

"Quite frankly, I'm not surprised," said Friesen. "This report apparently makes the same assumptions the government made in designing its programs, because the report used the same analysis."

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.

Contact:

Kieran Green, CFA Communications Coordinator, (613) 236-3633, info@cfafca.ca

Bob Friesen, CFA President, (204) 724-0824 (cell)

Brigid Rivoire, CFA Executive Director, (613) 236-3633 / (613) 715-3113 (cell)