Philip Lawrence, Member of Parliament for Northumberland Peterborough South and Conservative Shadow Minister for National Revenue, released the following statement regarding
additional funding for the agriculture sector.
The Government has repeatedly let down Canada’s farmers and producers, and their recent disregard for the dairy industry proves that they do not consider the agriculture sector to be a priority.
Year one of the Dairy Direct Payment Program ended on March 31, and at this point negotiations for any payments for subsequent years beyond the first year have not taken place. As of July 1st, 2020, CUSMA came into effect and the dairy industry had to make more concessions without a commitment for compensation.
Prime Minister Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister Freeland and Minister Bibeau have repeated time and again that the dairy farmers would be compensated for these concessions, yet they continue to delay negotiating the payments for the remaining 7 years of the compensation program. We understand how hard our agriculture sector has been hit by the current pandemic. That is why we
have repeatedly called on the Government to take strong action to support our farmers and producers, including reforming the Business Risk Management programs, and compensating dairy farmers for their concessions under CETA, CPTPP and CUSMA.The money announced by the Government for the agriculture sector in response to the pandemic was a fraction of what was asked for by the industry. Once again, the Government’s actions fail to
live up to their rhetoric. The financial support announced by the Government for Agri-Recovery is not new money, it’s the Agriculture department’s planned spending for the year. The Liberals’
announcement fails to meet the needs of farmers and producers who have, for months, been asking the government for help. It’s estimated that if immediate and meaningful support is not provided to help Canada’s agriculture and food industry, that up to 15% of our farms or about 30,000 farm families
will go out of business.
I will continue to press the Government for real financial support for our agriculture sector.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
