Released on January 26, 2000
Deputy Premier and Agriculture and Food Minister Dwain Lingenfelter said todaythat statistics published by a Winnipeg newspaper represent yet more evidence
that the federal government's own policies have helped create the farm crisis
in Saskatchewan.
Figures published by the Winnipeg Free Press indicate that the vast majority of
cuts to federal agriculture programs over the last decade have been borne by
Western Canadian farmers.
"We have said all along that Ottawa has been stripping away support to prairie
farmers, at the same time that European and United States National Governments
have been increasing their subsidies," Lingenfelter said. "Now there are yet
more numbers to prove it.
"Were are their priorities? Their own numbers keep telling them what the
problems are, but they just don't seem to listen. Not just these numbers, but
their own federal farm income numbers point to a sector of our country's
economy that is in dire financial trouble thanks to federal policy.
"Until the Federal Government recognized the disparity that has been created
for prairie grain farmers within Canadian agricultural policy, I do not believe
that the calls for federal action will be silenced," Lingenfelter concluded.
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For more information, contact:
Florentia Scott
Agriculture and Food
Regina
Phone: (306) 787-4031