Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here today. I want to take this opportunity to thank the standing committee for inviting us here to share our federal budget priorities with you today.
SARM represents all 296 rural municipalities in Saskatchewan and acts as the common voice of rural Saskatchewan. All members belong to our association on a voluntary basis. In addition, we are mandated by our act of incorporation to act on behalf of Saskatchewan's agricultural producers.
I would now like to outline two areas of greatest need for federal support in rural Saskatchewan, those being both local roads and bridge infrastructure, and the agriculture industry.
Local road and bridge infrastructure is vital to Saskatchewan’s commerce and industry as a landlocked province. We have very few transportation options. Rail line abandonment and elevator consolidation over the past 15 years means thousands more trucks use our road and highway system. Our rural road bridge system continues to deteriorate as more trucks travel more miles to access markets. Associated Engineering reported in 2008 that approximately $567 million over the next 15 years would be required to replace and repair the rural bridge system. In 2009 AECOM reported that approximately $225 million per year would be required to maintain and replace 130,000 kilometres of rural gravel roads. It is estimated that in order for RMs to fully fund only roads and bridges, an additional $389 million would have to be levied from the rural municipal tax base annually. Because the tax base of most RMs is predominantly agriculture and because the present agriculture economy is struggling and therefore unable to carry these increased costs, SARM has asked for support from both our provincial and federal governments. The province has provided us with $47 million in 2009 and $23 million in 2010, but unfortunately this falls short of the total investment required. Today we ask that the federal government consider introducing a new and expanded rural bridge and road infrastructure program to address the special needs of rural Saskatchewan.
I would like to highlight our second priority, agriculture programing. The Saskatchewan agriculture and agrifood sector accounted for nearly 13% of the provincial gross domestic product in 2008 and contributes 12.7% to the total Canadian agriculture and agrifood processing sector. Over the last several years SARM has noted the obvious dramatic swings in prairie weather patterns that have greatly impacted our agriculture industry. Many parts of the Saskatchewan grain belt are feeling the effects of two to three times the normal yearly rainfall in only a few short months. This has put many farms in small rural communities in peril. At this time we believe there are approximately 12 million acres of land in the province that are either unseeded or have been flooded after being seeded. Some economists believe this could result in a $12 billion shortfall due to the excessive moisture.
SARM understands the intent of the federal AgriRecovery program is to provide disaster relief when disasters strike, filling gaps that are not covered by existing programs. That should mean that if a producer triggers a payment from the AgriStability program, then AgriRecovery funding should be above and beyond that. It also means that AgriRecovery payments should not be included in a producer's income when determining eligibility for the programs. SARM understands this is currently not the case.
SARM asks that immediate adjustment be made to the current excess moisture program and that funding provided to producers from the AgriRecovery program not take away from payments received from any other business risk management programs. In addition, SARM also asks that municipal government associations, such as SARM, be included in negotiations surrounding federal-provincial disaster assistance programs. Municipal government is the level of government that is closest to the people, and as such has a greater understanding and can provide a different perspective around circumstances affecting them.
Thank you again for this opportunity to present. I'm happy to respond to any questions.
Thank you.