On June 21, 1999 the federal government announced that financial aid for flooded out farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba would be tied to AIDA and NISA and that no more money would be available to assist in this crisis. Disappointment, frustration and anger are all ways to describe the response by farmers to this announcement. It is estimated that 3 million acres will not be seeded this year. There is also more agriculture land under water now than during the Red River flood. This is a natural disaster and should be treated as such. The money to support these farmers should not be coming from an already flawed AIDA program.

Tying disaster relief to AIDA and NISA is telling farmers that Ottawa does not recognize this as a natural disaster. The AIDA program is itself a disaster and it won’t suddenly become useful with the minor tinkering Mr. Vanclief, the Agriculture Minister, has made.

Part of the Minister’s announcement surrounding support for flooded-out farmers was that producers will be able to apply for an advance payment of up to 60% from the 1999 AIDA program. I want to know how the Minister thinks farmers are going to be able to apply for an advance payment on a figure farmers will have way of determining until at least January, 2000?

The Agriculture Minister should have taken our advice and created an acreage-based payment program. This would have compensated farmers for the negative effects they are currently experiencing. Producers would be able to calculate their level of compensation and plan accordingly. This would give farmers the so-called "risk management tools" the Agriculture Minister has been emphasizing they need.

The government has continued to ignore the plight of Western Canadian farmers. After the Red River Flood in 1997, the government found disaster money. After the Quebec and Ontario Ice Storm the government made sure money flowed to those in need. Why then, when farmers are facing a similar natural disaster, do they not get support from government? Even last year when there was a disaster among Quebec sheep producers and animals were being destroyed, the government provided compensation immediately. So why doesn’t a disaster in Saskatchewan get the same attention?

The drought situation around North Battleford for the last few years, the flooding in the southeast corner of Saskatchewan and southwest corner of Manitoba, and the other weather related problems farmers experience indicate that we definitely need better farm programs. Farmers deserve to have insurance programs that work when there is a crop failure or a decline in the commodity prices. Unless long term solutions are developed, these crises will continue to plague Saskatchewan. It’s high time agriculture became more of a priority in a province that depends on it to drive the economy.

Our Agriculture Minister has been quoted as saying "Saskatchewan farmers didn’t send any money to Eastern Canada in the good years". Farmers send a lot of money to Ottawa and put a great deal of money into the provincial coffers through taxes built right into their input costs. It’s about time some of that money came back home – or else the government needs to reduce those taxes dramatically. What is the point of having a huge bureaucracy in government if it is of no help to us? If they cannot design programs that work maybe we should get rid of them and let us keep our money. Could we be any worse off?

This is an extremely tough time in agriculture as farmers not only are facing an income crisis, but are dealing with flooded out farm land. The manure the Agriculture Minister spread around during his recent visit to Saskatchewan and Manitoba will not give farmers more hope for the future, it only served to dirty the water. The Minister of Agriculture is feeding farmers a line when he says that AIDA will help them through the tough times. Producers need substantial support or real tax relief from our government in Ottawa. The only thing being helped by Ottawa’s aid programs and the Agriculture Ministers attitude is western alienation.

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