March 3, 2005

(OTTAWA) – One day after 8,000 Canadian farmers rallied in Toronto, Canada’s federal and provincial agriculture ministers offered farmers hollow words, but no actions. In a statement today, the ministers indicated they recognized the depth of the income crisis facing farmers, but still they will not take the first obvious step to address it: immediately dropping the deposit requirement from the Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization (CAIS) Program. They have opted instead to spend months, and millions of farmers’ and taxpayers’ dollars, looking for alternatives for “effectively engaging producers.”

“How many times do we have to say this: farmers are and continue to be engaged in this program. They shouldn’t be forced to do penance to participate,” said Bob Friesen, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA). “In fact, by insisting on some up-front penalty, it seems like what the ministers really want is for farmers not to be involved in this program. It seems like they’re more interested in limiting farmer participation.”

The CFA has repeatedly called on the federal and provincial governments to drop the CAIS deposit without any replacement program requirement. The deposit ties up over $600 million in producers’ much-needed operation capital. By the federal government’s own admission it does not meet the objectives of the program and will cost $14 million to administer. This call has been backed by a majority of Members of Parliament who recently passed a motion demanding the immediate elimination of the deposit.

“In their communiqué the ministers said they are committed to continue to work with industry to move the sector forward. When this program was created it was against the will of the industry. The one-year review of the program, where industry is promised input, is nearly two years overdue. And now they have again ignored the clear will of the industry. The ministers have to start working with industry before they can continue to work with industry,” argued Friesen. “And the only sector that has moved forward today is the forestry and paper products industry who will profit from the paper that was wasted on this statement.”

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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.