By Barry Wilson / Ottawa bureau Western Producer
Canadian political and farm leaders say promises being made by American presidential candidates signal four more years of trouble for Canadian farmers.
Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore last week promised the American Farm Bureau that as president, they would continue to support farmers as much as needed.
"I support additional emergency assistance which should come in the form of direct payments, consistent with the principles in the 1996 farm bill," Bush said.
"When I am president, I will help farmers overcome everything from bad weather to closed markets, expediting emergency assistance when needed, helping farmers rely less on government control of supply and more on market demand."
He also promised to aggressively push to dismantle foreign trade barriers and eliminate other countries' agricultural export subsidies.
Gore reminded the largest American farm lobby that as vice-president, he supported an $11 billion (US) addition to the farm safety net.
"I believe that long-term U.S. farm policy should be based on countercyclical income assistance that attempts to stabilize farm income on a year-to-year basis and complementary federally backed insurance policies that attempt to achieve revenue stability within the growing year," Gore said.
For Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen, those presidential pledges mean troubled times ahead.
"I think we're in for quite a ride," he said in an interview. "They seem to want to coerce other countries to open up their markets to American imports, and then to use subsidies to help their farmers, effectively buying a share of those markets. This is not good news for us."
He said the American pledges, no matter which party wins the November presidential election, mean the Canadian government will have to be willing to support its farmers for years to come.
"Right now, I just don't see any end to this."
Canadian agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said he also found the American political promises disturbing.
"They are a clear indication they have no intention of backing off on their support and targeted subsidies to agriculture," he said in an Oct. 19 interview.
"When you look at the statements by Gore and Bush, neither said anything about backing off," he said.
"They both pointed fingers at the European Union and basically, what I read clearly, is that if the EU is going to continue, then they will continue to play catch-up."
Vanclief remembered that in 1996 as chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee, he was in Washington and praised the Americans for their new farm bill which promised to end subsidies by 2002 through a gradual decline, offset by high "transition" subsidies.
He said at the time that commodity prices were high and subsidies were high. Vanclief had predicted that the test would be in four years when subsidies would be lower, prices would be lower and a presidential election was under way.
"My exact words were, 'we'll watch to see if you have guts enough to stick to what you say you're going to do.'
"They didn't stick to it for 18 months and now they are at or beyond where they were at the time."
Vanclief said the EU, like Canada, will see the distance between American rhetoric and action as hypocrisy. That will make trade talks difficult.
"It makes for a difficult situation and it makes it very difficult for our producers and producers everywhere.":
