NEWS RELEASE

February 4, 2005                                                       For Immediate Release

LOCAL VOICES HEARD DURING AGRICULTURE DEBATE

“Our producers, who are cash-strapped already, are required to put into an account, money they don’t have for a program that has little or no benefit. Hopefully this supply day, where we focused solely on the inadequacies of CAIS, will allow the Liberals to finally see the light.”

OTTAWA – Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament for Yorkton-Melville, took the very words of agricultural producers to Ottawa , reading to the federal Minister of Agriculture letters from farmers struggling to survive. The letters were used Thursday, February 3rd, in support of the Conservative Party’s supply day motion to drop the producer cash deposit requirement in the Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization (CAIS) program and deliver financial relief immediately.

“It’s important for the Agriculture Minister to hear firsthand just how ineffective and costly CAIS has become,” said Breitkreuz. “Although he attended and gave a speech at the Ag Forum in Yorkton in January, many farmers were upset that Mr. Mitchell didn’t stay to speak with the producers.”

Following the Ag Forum, Breitkreuz received a number of letters from producers wishing to stress to the Agriculture Minister the need for an effective disaster assistance program. At the first opportunity following the resumption of Parliament, Breitkreuz pushed to have an entire day devoted to debating the farm crisis. He read into the Parliamentary record portions of two letters from constituents in his riding: one from Monica Lipinski of Fosston and the other from Karen Walden of Wadena.

“Averaging guarantees the farmer poverty,” said Breitkreuz, reading from the Lipinski letter. “Only in an occupation of farming does averaging take effect. Five-year averaging of income and expenses, then taking out the good and the disaster years, only guarantees the farmer a poor income. How can it improve if you never show the best year?”

The Walden letter included grain tickets to show what the railways and elevators receive compared to farmers.

“These numbers are just astounding,” said Breitkreuz. “And this is the amount she (Walden) received: $887.72 which went towards cash advance, which means she did not get the money. ‘And what we would have received compared to $2,383.41 going to the freight companies, trucking etc.’ In other words, the amount that the farmer received, almost $900, compared to about $2,400 going for freight, indicates how much of a problem these farmers have.”

Stephen Harper led the debate in Parliament repeating many of the Conservative agricultural policy items from his recent speech in Yorkton  While the intent of the day was to debate the elimination of producer cash deposits, the Liberals spent much of the time patting themselves on the back for a job well done in supporting Canadian farmers through program like CAIS -- despite its numerous flaws.

“Our producers, who are cash-strapped already, are required to put into an account, money they don’t have for a program that has little or no benefit. Hopefully this supply day, where we focused solely on the inadequacies of CAIS, will allow the Liberals to finally see the light. If the government would drop the cash deposit, it would be one small step toward correcting the many problems with the CAIS program.”

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