NEWS RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE

April 20, 2000 For Immediate Release

CANADIAN ALLIANCE UNVEILS "AGRICULTURE-A VISION FOR THE FUTURE"

"We listened directly to farmers and have developed a policy from their suggestions"

Yorkton - Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville) and Official Opposition Agriculture Critic, released the results of the Action for Struggling Agriculture Producers (ASAP) Task Force in conjunction with five news conferences being held across the Prairies by Canadian Alliance MPs. "Months of direct consultations with farmers have resulted in the development of this task force report entitled Agriculture - A Vision for the Future. We held over 70 meetings across Canada and listened to over 3,500 farmers in developing this position paper. Unlike the Liberals, we listened directly to farmers and the policies in this document are the views of producers who attended these meetings," stated Breitkreuz.

The key results from the ASAP meetings were:

74% of farmers believe it will be difficult or impossible to continue farming
88% of farmers believe that the government's AIDA program has failed
90% of farmers want the government to reduce the federal cost burden on farmers (e.g., taxes on fuel and fertilizer, general tax reductions).
75% of farmers want the government to encourage value added processing such as the prairie pasta producers.
78% of farmers want a voluntary Canadian Wheat Board
79% of farmers believe Canada has failed at international negotiations and the federal government should immediately launch an aggressive international campaign to reduce (and eventually eliminate) foreign subsidies.

The policies developed in this report covers 12 different areas from farm safety nets to value added processing. "One of the biggest concerns raised at every ASAP meeting was the government has no plan for agriculture in Canada and farmers are being ignored by the party in power. However, the Canadian Alliance has dealt directly with producers on the wide-ranging issues that affect agriculture. The policies that have been developed come directly from the farmers themselves, so I believe farmers will support them." Breitkreuz said.

"Agriculture has been neglected and continues to be neglected by the government. Farmers now have an option. They know the Canadian Alliance has consulted and will continue to consult producers to develop agriculture polices that will benefit the Canadian family farm. Agriculture is very important to all Canadians, so I hope they will support farmers by supporting us as we try to implement our agriculture policy," concluded Breitkreuz.

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For more information please call:

Yorkton: 1-800-667-6606

Ottawa: (613) 992-4394

E-mail: breitg2@sk.sympatico.ca Web Site: www.garrybreitkreuz.com