NEWS RELEASE

September 28, 2001                                                                                                For Immediate Release

Breitkreuz Uses Emergency Debate To Show Liberals Out Of Touch With Agriculture

Even the anti-subsidy Chamber of Commerce agrees with the Alliance position on agriculture.

OTTAWA – Yesterday, in the House of Commons during an emergency debate requested by the Canadian Alliance on the current situation in agriculture across Canada, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, slammed the Liberal government on its treatment of rural Canada and farmers.

In his hard-hitting speech Breitkreuz pointed out that the Liberal government shows no knowledge of, nor have they taken any leadership in dealing with the areas affected by the drought, or the farm income crisis.  He revealed the contents of an internal agriculture department memo.  In the memo, the deputy minister told Vanclief that only a minority of grains and oilseeds producers are facing problems, arrears are almost non-existent, farm bankruptcies are low compared to other businesses, land prices are up and safety net programs, including AIDA, have been effective.

With emotion in his voice Breitkreuz replied by saying, “Someone in the minister's office is not telling the agriculture minister the truth. Someone is misleading him. Someone in the minister's office has missed the boat. It makes me angry when I hear stuff like this because it is so far removed from reality," said Breitkreuz.

”My office in Yorkton receives calls on an almost daily basis from farmers who were given an AIDA payout and suddenly get a letter from the department saying they have to pay the money back.  They say they are broke and yet the government is demanding it be paid back. AIDA has become the most despised agriculture program in recent memory. CFIP, the son of AIDA, there to replace it, is simply AIDA with another name. There is a lack of intelligence on the part of the agriculture ministry," emphasized Breitkreuz.

Breitkreuz brought to light that the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said in a statement last week that some kind of financial assistance must be given to agriculture producers until subsides are reduced so that Canadian farmers can compete in a fair trade environment.  "The Chambers of Commerce know that agriculture is an important industry that must be helped.  They know that agriculture affects manufacturing, transportation, food processing and even the retail sector, but apparently this is all lost on the Liberal government," said Breitkreuz.  Like the Chamber of Commerce, we don’t believe government should be subsidizing businesses, choosing winners and losers, but also like the chamber we know that this crisis is beyond a farmer’s control.

Breitkreuz, along with his Canadian Alliance colleagues used the debate to push home the reality that farmers need an immediate cash injection, but also that taxes imposed on fuel and inputs must be reduced. Government could do a lot to provide an incentive for farmers to add value to their product.  "We have all heard about how the wheat board is standing in the way of that we could reduce grain handling and transportation costs by modernizing the whole system," said Breitkreuz.

"It is so clear that the Liberals do not have a long term plan for agriculture.  We in the Alliance have spent a great deal of time trying to get the government to listen to us and to farmers.  Farmers need immediate help before this situation gets any worse," said Breitkreuz.  Breitkreuz concludes that a few butts need to be kicked and heads roll in the department, and then maybe we’ll get action.

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