$500 Million Additional Aid to
Farmers
March 2, 2001
Following up on our commitment to help farmers
who are experiencing significant income pressures, our government has announced
an immediate injection of $500 million in new federal funding for farmers.
With the provinces contributing their traditional
40 per-cent share, this new investment amounts to an additional $830 million for
Canadian farmers.
This new assistance will be available this
spring. The precise distribution mechanism will be discussed next week in a
meeting between Agriculture Minister Vanclief and his provincial counterparts.
There is already $1.8 billion available this year
through the federal-provincial safety net agreement. The new assistance
announced yesterday, coupled with the traditional 40 % contribution from the
provinces, will bring total federal-provincial funding for Canadian farmers this
year to more than $2.6 billion.
This means that the federal government is
bringing more money to the table – $1.6 billion – than in any year
since 1995.
It should be noted that of the $1.6 billion in
federal-provincial disaster assistance announced in 1999, $1.3 billion is now in
the hands of farmers. The rest will be distributed by the end of this spring.
Further, we expect to announce soon that we will
be building on the very successful Spring Cash Advance Program by significantly
increasing the maximum interest-free advance, which is currently $20,000.
These steps will go a long way toward alleviating
the pressures many Canadian farmers are experiencing. But we can, and we will do
more to help our producers.
The Minister of Agriculture has received a
mandate from Cabinet to work with producers and his provincial colleagues on a
long-term, forward looking plan for the sector to ensure Canada’s farmers have
the competitive edge they so richly deserve.
In our bilateral relations and at the World Trade
Organization, we will continue to push for a level playing field in trade for
agricultural products. We want to improve access to foreign markets for our
products and eliminate the trade-distorting subsidies that are hurting our
farmers.
And because farm income is not isolated from all
the other issues facing farmers, we will continue to work to:
- ensure environmental sustainability and food
safety;
- maintain and expand markets; and
- make agriculture an important part of Canada’s
innovation agenda.
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