Manitoba has approved its 40 per cent share of an emergency assistance package for the province’s rained-out cattle producers and says it’s waiting on the federal government to step forward with its 60.
In an interview Tuesday with Manitoba Co-operator reporter Ron Friesen, provincial Agriculture Minister Stan Struthers said the province is not responsible for a federal delay in announcing the aid.
“We’ve collected all the data that we needed to make a decision and we’ve passed all the information on to the federal government,” Struthers said in the farm newspaper’s Oct. 14 issue. “We’ve got all our money on the table.”
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The province’s cabinet approved its portion of the package in late August after getting a go-ahead from Treasury Board, Struthers said.
“I can only assume that (federal Ag Minister Gerry Ritz) needs to get through the logistical process that every government needs to go through,” he said.
Friesen on Thursday quoted an unnamed federal agriculture official as saying in September that his department was still assessing the extent of damage and calculating feed losses in affected areas.
A late harvest was delaying the evaluation, the official added.
The program, when or if launched, is expected to help cattle producers whose hayfields and pastures were severely damaged by excessive rains and overland flooding this spring and summer. The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association called for such a program earlier this summer.
MCPA asked for per-head payments for breeder and feeder stock to help offset feed and forage losses, the Co-operator said. It also wants feed freight assistance and tax deferrals for producers forced to sell all or part of their herds.
The province has suggested flowing this aid through the federal/provincial AgriRecovery program, Struthers said.
