$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.