Sunday, November 29, 2020

Feds speed up dairy subsidy

  

The federal government is speeding up the compensation it is paying dairy farmers to compensate for the trade deals signed with the European Union, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the United States and Mexico.

It will now be paid in three years instead of seven.

And federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau repeated promises that compensation will be coming for the poultry industry, for the first time naming an amount of $691 million.

But negotiations continue on how the poultry-industry money will be spent.

The poultry marketing boards issued a statement saying “this investment in our sectors is a step in the right direction towards supporting farmers as they make ongoing improvements to their operations and enhance the long-term efficiency and sustainability of their farms. It will also help maintain economic activity in rural and urban communities across Canada.”

They thanked Bibeau and said “we look forward to working with officials on the development and implementation of these programs and initiatives in the coming months.”

 

The dairy compensation totaling $1.75 billion will now be finished by spending $468 million next year, $469 the following year and $468 million in the last year.