NEWS RELEASE

October 21, 1998   For Immediate Delivery

VANCLIEF STILL DOESN’T GET IT – FARMERS CAN’T LIVE OFF HOT AIR

"The Minister of Agriculture still refuses to acknowledge that there is a farm income crisis in the west."

Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Deputy Agriculture Critic for the Official Opposition, asked the Minister of Agriculture to at least acknowledge there is a farm income crisis on the prairies. Lyle Vanclief ducked the question. Here’s the exchange as it was recorded in the House of Commons.

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, I met with many farmers in the last while and they have a message for the Minister of Agriculture. There is a farm income crisis on the prairies. Average net farm income in Canada dropped 55% last year and will drop 50% this year. Farmers also told me that NISA and crop insurance do not cut it any more. Will the minister admit that there is a farm income crisis on the prairies? Yes or no.

Hon. Lyle Vanclief (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, we have already for a number of weeks and months been having discussions with the farm leaders and the provinces in this country to discuss the unfortunate situation as far as farm income is concerned. But what the farmers are fortunate for is the fact that the Reform Party is not the government because in the last election they said that they would cut funding to departments like agriculture, fisheries and natural resources by $640 million and then they would take away from the departments another $690 million. Are farmers not fortunate that they are not the government?

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, this minister knows that the bureaucrats would have been the ones who would have lost the funding, not the farmers. I cannot understand why this minister is not listening. The Saskatchewan legislature had an emergency debate yesterday. All parties passed a resolution. This minister ought to be listening to what is happening on the prairies. It is about time he got his head out of the stubble field. The average NISA account is not even enough to pay for the fertilizer and the fuel next spring. Does the minister not recognize that there is a serious farm crisis in incomes that needs to be addressed now and not talked about?

Hon. Lyle Vanclief (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that I have had discussions with my colleague in the province of Saskatchewan and all of my colleagues and the farm leaders across the country. As recently as last week the safety net review committee met all day long in Ottawa. We have had discussions with them and I am calling other meetings in the very near future to act on this in a very proactive way in partnership with the producers, the provincial governments and all those involved.

"Typical of this government, it ignores a crisis when it’s staring them in the face and throws falsehoods about the policies of the Reform Party, said Breitkreuz. "The truth is if Reform had formed the government in 1993, 80% of the annual Crow benefit would have been invested in a new safety-net program, called the Trade Distortion Adjustment Program to protect farmers in these kind of emergencies. How many farm bankruptcies does there have to be before this government gets the message? Farmers can’t live of the hot air the Minister is putting out as he and his bureaucrats discuss it. What farmers need is action, not talk."