NEWS RELEASE

March 2, 2005                                                                         For Immediate Release

LIBERALS IGNORE CANADIAN FARMERS IN BUDGET

“What is so ridiculous is that the Liberals say they will spend $130 million on agriculture over the next five years – they spend that much on the gun registry in one year.”

YORKTON – The 2005 federal budget, announced last week by Liberal finance minister Ralph Goodale, will not be supported by Yorkton-Melville Member of Parliament Garry Breitkreuz. The Conservative Party MP said he was dismayed at what the Liberal Party claimed was a budget for all Canadians.

“How upsetting to have the finance minister and Saskatchewan MP stand up in Parliament and say all Canadians would benefit from this,” said Breitkreuz. “Mr. Goodale, above all other Liberal MPs, has to be well aware of the catastrophe within the agriculture industry, yet agriculture was barely a whisper in the budget speech.”

While the Liberal budget promotes spending on programs like defence and child care, much of that spending is spread out over a decade. It’s unlikely the Liberals will be in power at that time, making their budget promises obsolete. In addition, the Liberal government has never been able to fulfill past budget promises beyond the two-year mark.

“What is so ridiculous is that the Liberals say they will spend $130 million on agriculture over the next five years – they spend that much on the gun registry in one year,” said Breitkreuz. “They are willing to spend millions more on the useless gun registry than on an industry which employs 200,000 to 250,000 Canadians.”

As dismal as the budget is for Canadian farmers, more disturbing is the Federal Agriculture Minister’s acceptance of the Liberal government’s ignorance towards agriculture. Following the budget release, Minister Andy Mitchell said the Liberal budget responded to priorities identified by producers.

“The only ‘priority’ they have met was one initiated by the Conservative Party, and the Liberals aren’t even committed to that one,” said Breitkreuz, referring to the annual producer deposit requirement under the CAIS program. “Just three weeks ago, the Liberals voted against the Conservative supply day motion to drop the deposit, and now they say they will ‘work to’ eliminate it. Using those words doesn’t instill very much confidence in its removal.”

Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper has proposed amendments to the federal budget including a portion that states: the budget makes no commitment to the agriculture sector and rural Canada to provide aid at a time when Canada ’s regions need it most; and the budget does not eliminate the wasteful spending on the gun registry.

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