Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to speak in the House this evening on a crisis, it saddens me to say, of truly biblical proportions when we think about what is happening to our farmers in western Canada, central Canada and the maritimes.
My critic role in parliament is on fisheries and oceans. Probably some people may be asking why I would be discussing the farm crisis. I can tell people firsthand of the crisis that happened to the people of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the rest of the Atlantic provinces. That is happening to people in western Canada. That is happening to people in central Canada. That is exactly what is happening to farmers.
Farmers are the finest people in all of Canada when it comes to agricultural work. We are not just talking about people who work the land. We are talking about people who actually risk their lives every day because farming is one of the toughest occupations out there. They deserve our help and they need our help now.
In my 10 minutes I will read a letter from the minister of agriculture and food of Saskatchewan. This is a letter he has written to everyone in the House of Commons. Although he cannot be here to read it himself, I would like to read it for him because it states exactly what the problem is:
Dear House of Commons:
It is with regret that I have to write this letter to inform you about the serious situation facing Saskatchewan farmers.
I first want to point out that Saskatchewan farmers are among the most productive in the world. They are prepared to compete in world markets on a fair basis. However, current world markets are anything but fair. The United States and the European Union continue to provide massive subsidies on their production and exports. This has been a major factor in driving grain prices down over the last year.
The level of subsidies in the U.S. and EU can be illustrated by looking at information from the Organization for Economic and Co-operative Development (OECD). For wheat, the subsidy, as measured by a producer subsidy equivalent measure, was 10 per cent in Canada, 32 per cent in the U.S. and 36 per cent in the EU. This means a Saskatchewan farmer growing wheat has to compete against farmers getting 3.2 to 3.6 times as much assistance.
The impact of low prices is being felt in the agriculture sector and throughout the provincial economy. Farm incomes for 1998 are projected to drop $407 million from the five-year average. In 1999, they are projected to be $766 million below the five-year average. Clearly, our agriculture sector cannot be expected to handle this type of situation on its own.
There are two issues that need to be dealt with. One is the need for a long-term strategy to deal with multi-year disasters. Saskatchewan asked at the 1998 summer annual meeting of federal-provincial ministers for this to be addressed as we jointly negotiate a new five-year framework agreement to begin in the year 2000. The second and more pressing issue is the need for a short-term solution to the cash flow problem Saskatchewan producers are facing today.
I am seeking support for a disaster program to protect our farmers against the dramatic income drop. The program must be federally funded in the same way that the U.S. and EU fund their farm programs. Only the federal government has the fiscal ability to fund such a program. Saskatchewan is prepared to help our agriculture sector as much as possible. We do this by contributing 40 per cent of the costs to such programs as crop insurance and the Net Income Stabilization Account (NISA) program. We already fund agricultural programs at a much higher level relative to our tax base than any other government in Canada. In fact, it is over four times higher (on a per capita basis) than the federal government and the average support provided by all provinces. Saskatchewan clearly does not have the additional fiscal capacity to fund this type of disaster program.
The current farm income situation is a federal responsibility: the income problem is primarily a result of the use of subsidies by other countries and international trade is a federal responsibility; subsidization of our industry's competitors is primarily being provided by the national governments in both the EU and U.S.; only the federal government has the treasury that can deal with this type of problem; and the federal government chose to completely eliminate export subsidies in Canada prior to receiving the same commitments from other countries when it eliminated the Crow benefit. This federal decision has taken $320 million annually out of the pockets of Saskatchewan producers.
These large problems are clearly beyond the scope of an individual province. Saskatchewan cannot go to those farmers who have lost almost 70 per cent of their net income this year and to the 40 per cent of Saskatchewan people whose livelihoods are indirectly supported by agriculture in this province—and ask them for more tax dollars to fix a problem created by our federal government.
I agreed with federal government decisions to utilize Canadian taxpayers' dollars to help out the east coast fisheries through targeted transition funding; I agreed when they provided disaster relief to Manitoba during the flood; and I agreed when they assisted Ontario and Quebec after the ice storm. My hope now is that they can see their way clear to assist prairie producers during this period of severe financial hardship, a hardship caused through no fault of their own.
The federal government must take action to press the EU and U.S. to eliminate the use of trade distorting subsidies. They must be willing to protect industry during this income shortfall if the U.S. and EU subsidies continue. I need your help to ensure Canada puts as much pressure as possible on the EU and U.S. to reduce their production and trade distorting subsidies.
I do have confidence in the future of our industry. But it needs help to address periods of low incomes. I ask for your support in getting a short-term, disaster relief program in place before spring seeding in 1999.
This letter was signed by Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture and Food Eric Upshall. What we are talking about are the finest farmers in the entire world. In fact, I would like to say that this crisis relates exactly to the fishing industry on the east coast.
In conclusion, farmers are going through the most devastating time of their lives in the hog producing industry. What have these farmers done? Some of them have actually given thousands of pounds of pork away to their local food banks. We are talking about not only the best farmers in the world, but the finest people in the world as well.