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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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BN08-66: No New Money for BC Farmers

Recent History – 2001

April 10, 2001

By Mark Nielsen, Daily News Staff

There won’t be any new money coming from the provincial government to help out financially ailing farmers.

B.C. Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson John Barry said Monday that the province has already spent enough on farm-related ventures to trigger a $25 million commitment from Ottawa through the federal Agriculture Income Disaster Assistance program.

“We’ve already kicked in many millions of dollars into farm safety net programs…we’ve spent this money already or announced it,” Barry said.

Farmers had been hoping that the province would contribute a further $16 million to safety net programs for the coming year — about 40 per cent of the $41 million they were expecting.

B.C. Grain Producers president Jim Smolik was dismayed. “We’re pretty concerned that this is the way that they’re going to deal with it,” he said.

That’s especially in light of province-generated numbers that indicate that in 2000 grain producers are $11 million behind the five year average and that farmers across the province face another $35 million in extra costs next year.

“They understand that this problem is out there, and yet in one news release the minister will come out and say that the ag industry creates $18 billion worth of economy and that it fully employs 250,000 people,” Smolik said. “The scenario goes on and yet they don’t have any money for it.

“I mean, they can spend a half-billion dollars on fast ferries and that’s fine. I guess as farmers we’re pretty concerned with the lack of importance that we hold with them right now.”

Smolik is waiting to get the entire break down on where the $16 million has been spent, but he suspects that about half is for loan guarantees — money he said won’t necessarily be spent.

Adding to the woes, Smolik said that other sectors are hurting. “There are 200 plus commodities in the province and every one of them thinks they deserve the lion’s share of it,” he said. “The dilution factor is going to be tremendous.”

Barry said that even the stackyard fencing initiative was included as credit towards the province’s commitment because of Ottawa’s environmental imperatives.

This article is taken from the Peace River Block Daily News, Dawson Creek, with the permission of the publisher. The Daily News retains all rights relating to this material. The information in this article is intended solely for research or general interest purposes.

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