$5.6 BILLION TO AGRICULTURE PROGRAMS ANNOUNCED IN BUDGET
“Three times as much went into agriculture than was promised, so I am very pleased.”

OTTAWA - The first budget of the new Conservative government proved to be one of good news for Canada's agriculture producers. The budget, announced Tuesday by federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, includes an extra $1.5 billion to improve farm support programs this year and a commitment to replace CAIS.

“We obviously have a new government that delivers on its promises and way beyond,” said Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament for Yorkton-Melville. “Three times more went into agriculture than was promised, so I am very pleased. It’s good to see we have an agriculture minister who finally listens. Minister Strahl came to Yorkton and heard our concerns, and I appreciate his response.”

“During the recent election campaign we promised to scrap the CAIS program and replace it with a separate farm income stabilization program and a real disaster relief program,” said Breitkreuz, “and that is outlined in the budget.”

In support of improved disaster coverage, the government will implement a Cover Crop Protection Program to help farmers deal with the damage caused by flooding of their fields. The budget delivers on the commitment to new funding, but goes further with an additional one-time investment of $1 billion in 2006-07 to assist farmers in the transition to new programming.

“Some of the really important features of this budget are ones that many analysts have missed,” said Breitkreuz. “There is much more of a focus to government spending – getting results and value for money instead of wasting taxpayer dollars. Many programs that are no longer serving their purpose will be eliminated saving taxpayers some $2 billion.”

“Our government’s first budget offers nearly $20 billion in tax relief for Canadians over the next two years – more than the last four federal budgets combined,” continued Breitkreuz. “In addition to the aid coming to our farmers, we will see a reduction in the GST; parents with children under 6 years of age will get an annual allowance of $1,200 per child; and seniors will see a doubling in the amount of eligible pension income that can be claimed under the pension income credit. This will remove approximately 85,000 pensioners from the tax rolls altogether. Moreover, an equalization payment review will mean more money for Saskatchewan.”

“The most significant aspect of this budget is tax relief,” concluded Breitkreuz. “We made 29 separate tax reductions in every area where the government collects money, including reductions in the GST and income tax. Everyone should benefit.”

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The Federal Budget in its entirety can be viewed at: http://www.fin.gc.ca/budtoce/2006/budliste.htm