Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Fundy Royal.
The agriculture industry is on a downward spiral economically. In recent years all farmers, western and eastern, have been plagued by a number of obstacles, including drought, grasshoppers, frost, subsidy wars, trade disputes and the ongoing BSE border closure debacle. Farmers are losing their livelihood. The border closure has not only affected the beef producers in this country but it has affected many other sectors in agriculture.
I had the occasion to speak with Mr. Gordon Schroeder, member of the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board, regarding the effects of the BSE border closure and its effect on the sheep industry, including a 60% drop in slaughter lamb prices and a 61% drop in ewe shop sales and a loss of major feedlot capacity.
He wants me to bring to the attention of the House that the inability to move animals across the border is a real concern for Canadian sheep producers. This problem is compounded by the fact that the industry does not have access to adequate federal slaughter capacity dedicated to killing lambs.
Under the current border restrictions boneless lamb could be exported, however this is not happening because of the problems with the lack of federal slaughter and processing capacity.
He would also like to bring to the attention of the House that the negotiations to open the border to sheep are complicated by the lack of a comprehensive national scrapie strategy and has requested that our producers be eligible for any additional enhancements to programs such as CAIS.
With the commitment of funding we are confident that the industry would emerge from the crisis on a competitive footing with the opportunity to again expand and prosper.
The obstacle to CAIS is the cash on deposit. The up front funding requirement prevents farmers from taking out full coverage on their operations. This was best described by the member for Battlefords—Lloydminster when he said that this was like a person wanting to insure a house for $100,000 and having to put $20,000 in a bank account before the insurance company would sell the person a premium.
The CAIS program is a five year average of nothing that equals nothing. The program does little but stabilize farm poverty. Farmers are continuing to go bankrupt. They lose their farms and they must seek work off the farm just to survive.
In Saskatchewan this year we will be celebrating our 100th birthday. As one of our members said earlier, we celebrate the intergenerational farms that have had their farms in their family name for 100 years.
I spoke with someone who was a recipient of this award this summer. This award was given to their family farm. The recipient had a choice between a sign posted at the driveway or a plaque in commemoration of this historical milestone. He took the plaque because that is how uncertain the future is on his farm, so that he could take the plaque with him when he does lose the farm.
The parliamentary secretary spoke of the formula that levels out the boom or bust. It does perhaps in his view level out the boom or bust but I believe we are in the bust.
Saskatchewan's 40% share of the CAIS program could range between $170 million and $300 million. However, the NDP provincial government has put a $99 million cap on the program, which, unfortunately, is an economic reality in Saskatchewan.
The farmer, with the help of an accountant, has completed and submitted an application for CAIS. This farmer in particular, due to the province's spending limit on CAIS, only one-quarter of the province's 40% program share is being paid right now. He writes:
On our farm we had built up a reasonably good reference margin from previous years. However, 2003 was next to an economic disaster for us because of the reduced grain prices and the effects of the BSE crisis.
He wanted to know if the difference between the province paying its full share of 40% versus the 10% at present would amount to a reduction of $28,000 from CAIS in 2003. If the producer was from Alberta or Manitoba and had the same income and expense numbers his support from CAIS would be $28,000 larger. That is a big difference.
The response from our province has always been the same on issues of dollars in agriculture. It cannot afford to fully fund CAIS. It cannot afford to reduce the education tax on farmland. It cannot afford to add money to the BSE assistance initiatives announced by the federal government. An article written by a local agriculture consultant says that farmers are frustrated with our government.
Agriculture was mentioned in the throne speech by one word but it was mentioned alongside other sectors. It was only mentioned in passing as the throne speech mentioned automotive, aerospace, other manufacturing as well as agriculture and other resource based industries, hardly a priority for our government.