WHAT DOES A MINORITY GOVERNMENT IN OTTAWA MEAN FOR YOU?
by Cam Dahl,
Executive Director Grain Growers of Canada,

The 2004 Federal Election has delivered a minority government to Canada. While some may view this as an unstable situation, I believe it is an excellent opportunity for grains and oilseed farmers to have their needs and concerns heard.
This is because all 308 individual Members of Parliament, whether they are on the Government side, or on the opposition side of the House of Commons, have a greater say in what must be addressed by the Government.
The Grain Growers of Canada will be working with all Members of the House of Commons. However, we will be spending significantly more time with the twelve members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. The members of this Committee are:

Mr. Paul Steckle has been re-elected Chair of the Committee. Mr. Steckle is a Member of Parliament from the Huron-Brace Constituency in Ontario. Mr. Gerry Ritz from Battlefords-Lloydminster in Saskatchewan and Ms. Denise Poirier-Rivard from Chateauguay-Saint-Constant in Quebec serve as the Committee's Vice-chairs. We want to congratulate all the Members who will serve on this important Committee. Many have served in the past on this Committee. We look forward to continue building our relationship with these returning Members as well as welcoming the ideas and insights from the newest additions. The Grain Growers of Canada will be looking for these leaders to focus on key areas: agriculture safety nets, international trade negotiations, environmental initiatives, and the high regulatory burden.

Agriculture Safety Nets

Grain and oilseed producers across Canada are suffering because commodity prices are depressed by foreign interference in the world market. For example, foreign subsidies cost grains and oilseed farmers at least $1.3 billion annually. The impact of tariff and non-tariff barriers must be added to this number. The impact of foreign trade injury has not been addressed in the Agriculture Policy Framework. Safety net programs will not meet the needs of our sector until this policy oversight is corrected. Other critical areas of the new safety net program also need to be improved. The Grain Growers of Canada will continue to advocate the Trade Injury Compensation Program to correct this deficiency.

International Trade Negotiations

It is vital for the future of the Canadian grains and oilseed sector that the world reaches an agreement to liberalize agriculture trade. While the Uruguay round agreement did enact modest disciplines in the use of subsidies and tariffs, the key success of the last round was simply putting agriculture on the table. Substantial improvements still need to be made. Because domestic prices for grains and oilseeds are determined by the world market, these distortions affect all grains and oilseed farmers, even if they do not deliver for export. Even the price of corn for farm-to-farm sales is negatively impacted. For this reason, real progress at the international trade negotiations is vital to the future of our industry.
The benefits of real progress at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are significant. For example, the removal of the tariff barriers would add about $120 million to net returns from Ontario's corn, soybean and wheat production. The elimination of export subsidies and trade distorting domestic support could increase the market receipts by an average of $14,000 per year for each grain and oilseed farmer.
While it is not perfect, we believe that the framework agreement reached by the WTO's General Council on July 31 will allow us to accomplish many of our goals.

Environmental Initiatives

Innovative Canadian agriculture producers are already managing their cropland, rangeland and livestock feeding programs in ways that improve environmental sustainability. However, farmers are concerned that new, and unknown, regulatory regimes designed to accomplish environmental goals will sharply curtail their ability to carry out their operations. Farmers are looking to Canadian political leaders for assurances that our industry will not be asked to pay a disproportionate amount of the cost of environmental initiatives, designed to benefit society as a whole. Canadian farmers are also looking for policies that will encourage the development of a world-class bio-products industry (e.g., bio-diesel, ethanol, polylactic acid from corn starch, wheat straw fibreboard, etc.). Not only will the development of this new sector help Canada reach its environmental goals, it will help diversify and strengthen Canadian family farm income.

Regulatory Burden

In many cases, Canada's regulatory environment presents competitive hurdles for Canadian farmers' agri-food businesses. Amending regulations to remove these costly hurdles would cost the Government of Canada little, but would significantly improve the competitiveness of the Canadian grains and oilseed sector. Pesticide regulations and the operations of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency provide a graphic example of one area, where harmonization would significantly benefit grains and oilseed farmers. This issue has been raised by farmers for many years, and while there have been a few small steps in the right direction, we still have a long way to go before the negative impacts of the lack of harmonization are eliminated.

The Importance of Individual Farmer Involvement

While your organizations are working on your behalf, there is much that individual producers can do. Quite simply, there is no substitute for direct contact between Members of Parliament and their constituents. Your Member of Parliament will listen if you and your neighbours repeatedly let them know, through individual visits as well as letters, that these issues are important to you. I encourage you to take a few moments to contact your individual MP to let them know that the needs of the grains and oilseed farmers are important and must be addressed. A frequent and consistent message from grains and oilseed farmers from across Canada will have a real influence in the direction policies take.

You can contact your MP via e-mail at: Last Name.First Initial@Parl.gc.ca.
For example, Minister Mitchell can be reached at Mitchell.A@parl.gc.ca.
Alternatively, your can write your MP postage free at:
MP's Name House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A OA6