Tobacco Growers Have Weak Case

Source from:  thesudburystar.com Tuesday, April 03, 2007 04/09/2007

Ontario tobacco growers' demand for a $1-billion government buyout is overreaching, but their plight shouldn't be completely ignored just because their product is going out of fashion. Growers have been shrinking in numbers for years. There are now about 1,000 tobacco growing families remaining in the province, mainly in southwestern Ontario and their situation, said Fred Neukamm, chair of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, is grave. Said Neukamm: "Without some sort of intervention, we're going to starve. It's a very desperate situation.'' Demand for their product has plummeted in recent years. Tobacco growers want the province and the federal government to levy a tax on cigarettes to help pay for an "exit strategy" (read conversion to other crops) so farmers can "exit the industry with some dignity," said Neukamm. Growers contend that government policies - which consisted of convincing people to quit, raising taxes on tobacco and banning cigarette advertising - have dramatically affected demand and poisoned the atmosphere for cigarette-makers so much that they moved out of the province. And governments have reaped billions of dollars in cigarette taxes over the years, growers point out. Ergo, growers say, their plight is the fault of government and government has a responsibility to buy them out. The other side of this, of course, is that tobacco growers have known for years that demand for their product was in decline. Responsible business owners would have planned their own exit strategy years ago. The province and the federal government provided a $120-million buyout in 2004, which removed about one third of Ontario growers and almost all Quebec growers from the market. The requested $1-billion buyout would be shared by about 1,000 farmers - averaging out to about $1 million for each grower. Such a buyout would reward farmers for hanging on to what, until recently, had been a lucrative crop without taking responsibility for their own future. And the argument that government policies killed growers' business is hollow. Sure, it killed business, but public policy to reduce smoking and its deadly health effects is a moral imperative. Tobacco growers know this, but somehow, they see this as the government's shame. Tobacco growers are not feeding the world. Theirs is strictly a money-making venture. They can hardly argue their product was needed, though they like to emphasize it is legal. As in any business, when it's apparent a product is no longer in demand, it's up to business owners to move on. And all those billions of dollars in taxes collected from cigarette companies did go into government coffers, but they're not likely to cover the total health-care costs of treating smokers stricken by disease. Tobacco growers seem to be trying to claim the moral high ground, but it's a bit hard to take. Many argue the sandy soil in which tobacco grows is not hospitable to other crops, but some farmers have successfully switched to ginseng, which should experience a growth in demand now that Health Canada has sanctioned a cold treatment composed chiefly of that herb. Still, governments should not simply claim their own high ground on the issue. The industry has lost 15,000 jobs in southern Ontario over the past few years, and growers are genuinely suffering. There is room to help farmers convert their farms to other crops, though any package should be much less lucrative than what growers are demanding through highway blockades and bail-burning exhibitions. A full-scale buyout would not be acceptable to taxpayers and it would reward growers who obstinately refused to take control of their own destiny. What do you think? Send us your opinion in a Letter to the Editor at 33 MacKenzie St., Sudbury, P3C 4Y1, or fax it to 674-6834 or e-mail it to letters@thesudburystar.com Enditem