The Rural Voice, 2005-04, Page 49News in Agriculture
Steckle predicts no quick border opening
There will be no quick resolution
to the closure of the U.S. border to
Canadian live cattle exports
following a Montana court injunction
and the U.S. House of
Representatives vote, Huron -Bruce
MPP Paul Steckle predicts.
"I don't believe the border will be
open for another 18 months," Steckle
told the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture's annual members of
parliament day which brought farm
commodity groups together to talk to
their politicians March 12.
"I think we need a made -in -
Canada solution," Steckle said,
urging an increase in slaughter
capacity so live cattle did not need to
be exported.
There's a proposal from a
consortium in Manitoba,
Saskatchewan and Alberta to build a
packing plant to handle 2,500
animals a day that would be funded
by a fee on ear tags, he said.
Carol Mitchell, MPP for Huron -
Bruce said slaughter capacity for all
affected livestock groups, cattle,
sheep and goats must all be
improved. She noted the province
had supported the opening of the
Gencor plant for cull cows.
Bob Emerson, president of the
Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture, told Steckle the federal
government should challenge the
U.S. to live up to its obligations
under the North American Free Trade
Agreement.
But Steckle said that would be a
very slow process and could take five
or six years and cost a huge amount
of money. In the end, if you win as
Canada did with a challenge against
$4 billion in softwood lumber import
duties, the Americans may refuse to
pay the damages.
"They will do what they want to
do," he said.
In presenting a brief on behalf of
Huron County Beef Producers
Association, Les Falconer of Clinton,
said the combination of the BSE
crisis and increased government
regulations such as nutrient
management is causing many
producers to exit the industry
"Without Ontario farmers, this
province will lose the strength and
infrastructure of rural Ontario present
in small towns and villages," he
said.0
Steckle, Mitchell under fire over CAIS
The inadequacies of the Canadian
Agricultural Income Stabilization
(CAIS) program brought heated
debate when Huron -Bruce's
members of parliament met with 60
farm leaders in Clinton, March 12.
Bob Hallam of Auburn,
representing the corn producers, told
the meeting of one young farmer who
has lost money three years in a row
yet still wasn't eligible for a payout.
On top of that there's a heavy
paperwork burden that means people
usually have to hire an accountant to
submit a claim which they may or
may not get, Hallam said.
Pat Down, Huron County
Federation of Agriculture director,
said politicians should look at the
amount of money being spent on
administering any program before
they approve it. A program like CAIS
that requires too much paperwork
shouldn't be approved. "It's
ridiculous that these people (CAIS
administrators) are living off us," she
said.
Huron -Bruce MP Steckle clashed
with HCFA vice-president Wayne
Hamilton over CAIS.
"We were pushed into this by the
federal government," Hamilton
charged.
Steckle replied that farm groups,
as well as the federal and provincial
governments were all involved in
setting up CAIS.
But Hamilton reminded Steckle
that the Agriculture Commodity
Council had said from the beginning
that the inventory provisions were a
problem.
"You've been aware of the
problems for six years and you never
fixed it."
Bob Down of Hensall, who was
chair of the commodities council at
the time, agreed that his group kept
telling the government of the
problems with the program and as a
result, Ontario was the last province
to sign on to the program.
Other provinces didn't support
maintaining a market revenue
program but "Do we have to suffer
for the stupidity of other provinces?"
Down wondered.
Carol Mitchell. MPP for Huron -
Bruce said "l have been submitting
weekly reports since July about the
problems (with CAIS)
"0
Farm leaders not receptive to
Steckle's proposal for a food tax
Paul Steckle promoted his idea of a
small tax on food to raise money for
agriculture but farm leaders at
Saturday's members of parliament
dinner weren't enthusiastic for the
idea.
"I believe that consumers in this
country would support a one or two
per cent tax on food," Steckle said.
"It's the farmers who are against it."
Steckle said he didn't want more
taxes but this was a tax he could
support because it could provide
needed money to support agriculture.
But Bill Dowson, mayor of
Bluewater and a pork producer, said
farmers shy away from a food tax
because there's a terrible mistrust of
taxes not ending up where the money
is supposed to go. such as the tire tax
and the gas tax.
Paul Klopp of the Federation
worried all the attention for the food
tax would derail other agricultural
issues.
"We've got a (taxation) s.v stem
now," said Wayne Hamilton, HCFA
second vice-president. "A tiny
percentage increase in income tax
would do it — the equivalent of a
cup of coffee a week."
APRIL 2005 45
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