Saskatchewan Party Caucus Proposes Cash Advance Program to Stabilize Cattle Industry

 In our system of government, opposition parties must oppose, expose and hold the government to account, but it is also more than fair to expect some constructive ideas as well.  It was in this spirit and a keen understanding by our MLA’s as to the devasting consequences of one lone case of BSE in Canada that we have proposed a…

$300 Per Head Cash Advance Program

 Our proposal would involve two steps:

1. Establishment of a provincial low-interest cash advance of $300 per cow, bison or elk and $25 per sheep to address the cash flow crunch facing producers this fall and retain strong live cattle, bison, elk and sheep numbers in Saskatchewan; and
2. Extension of the existing Federal-Provincial BSE Recovery Program until orderly markets are restored.

The cash advance would be offered to producers at the provincial government’s interest rate and would be repaid through a check-off system whenever any animal is moved to market in much the same way the cash advance on wheat is collected. The cash advance would be available for breeding stock and so-called "background cattle" as well as bison, elk and sheep purchased before May 20, 2003. 

NDP Government Response Disappointing 

(at the time this report was submitted for publishing – there was no movement by the government on their initial reaction to the Saskatchewan Party plan)

Agriculture Minister Clay Serby dismissed our proposal telling reporters the government could lose $50 million because many cattle producers would not repay the cash advances.

But as our Agriculture Critic (Watrous MLA) Donna Harpauer pointed out, the cash advance program could be administered at very low cost by rural municipalities.  In addition ,there would be no net borrowing cost to Saskatchewan taxpayers because producers would pay the provincial government’s interest costs on the cash advance and there would be an extremely low rate of non-payment because cash advances would be automatically repaid through a check-off system as animals are sold.

The good news is that despite his criticisms, Mr. Serby wouldn’t rule out the program we are proposing (or one like it).   We may know more after this Labor Day Weekend.  The current federal compensation package will end at the end of the month.

Legislative Wrap

It already seems like a very long time ago, but the Legislature adjourned at the end of June (it seems all too recent to our kids who headed back to school this week!)

The highlight for our area of course was the announcement of the new regional hospital, but that left us work to to try to convince the government that we need and deserve one of the two new CT scan units rather than the used one that used to traverse the TransCanada between Swift Current and Moose Jaw.

Equally concerning …although many in Saskatchewan remain unaware of this reality …is that Mr. Calvert has differed greatly from Mr. Romanow in terms of his approach to the provincial budget.  We now know that since taking over from Mr. Romanow, Mr. Calvert has racked up over $1.1 billion in deficits in his first two years of office.  This is particularly alarming given the current budget revenues are based on a projection that our provincial economy will grow by over 6%, nearly double what most economists predict for our province and the rest of Canada (and that was before the BSE problem).

Crown corporation policy was also a hot topic of the last session.  The fact that SaskTel’s annual report for the most current year highlighted over $60 million in out-of-province losses underscore the difference between the Opposition and the governing NDP on the important issue of crowns.   We simply believe that these crowns serve the province best when they focus on providing the best possible service at the lowest possible price right here in Saskatchewan.  The NDP continues to argue that they need to invest in places like Mexico, Chile and Australia to be able to compete, which belies the facts that under the NDP government these these ventures have almost invariable lost money while the Saskatchewan operations enjoy much more success.

When’s the Next Election?

Other than BSE related concerns, this is the most frequently asked question by constituents.  Of course I don’t know the answer to that.  The four year anniversary of the last election is coming up on September 16^th, 2003 and the Premier has certainly said he believes that governments should face the voters every four years.  Time will tell, however, as Mr. Calvert is starting to talk about stretching this mandate (which technically is Mr. Romanow’s) into year five.  What we need of course in Saskatchewan is set elections so no political party in power can play these election speculation games.

Our constituency office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5 pm in #3 of the Carmel Mall.  Our telephone number is 778-2429 while our fax line is 778-3614. 

My email address is bradw@bradwall.com  Our website is www.bradwall.com