Province Urged to Pay Tobacco Farmers

Source from:  Brantford (Ont) Expositor (ca) 04/30/2009

Tobacco land MPPs are still working on a "glimmer of hope" that the Ontario government may come through with cash to join a federally led transition program helping growers leave the industry. Conservative MPP Toby Barrett, who represents Haldimand-Norfolk, says he and other colleagues are working on Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government to consider the plight of tobacco growers. They are looking for up to $167 million, which was supposed to be the province's share of a larger $467-million program unveiled by federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz last year. "That $167 million could go a long way around here," Barrett said. "We still have a couple of weeks, so there is a glimmer of hope. But I'm not holding my breath." When Ottawa set up the Tobacco Transition Program, it committed $300 million from a lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies, which pleaded guilty to smuggling under the Excise Act. About $285 million was used to buy out quota at the rate of $1.05 per pound, and $15 million was put toward an economic transition program for the counties of Norfolk, Brant, Oxford, Elgin and Middlesex. At the time the program was unveiled, Ontario was asked to contribute the $167 million, according to a customary 60-40 split in agriculture funding programs by the two levels of government. The money would have brought the total buyout of quota to a little more than $1.75 per pound, and would have given growers more of an ability to re-establish themselves in other areas of agriculture or the rural economy. The province had also benefited from the lawsuit settlement, so the growers were astounded when provincial Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky said the government would not join the program, and put its share of the money into general coffers. Barrett said there is ample precedent for the government to consider tobacco growers and join a program after the fact if it finds residual money collected from budgets not entirely spent. The McGuinty government once used $50 million of residual money to join after the fact the first Tobacco Assistance Program unveiled by then federal agriculture minister Bob Speller. "This is the last chance for growers to get any help from the province," said Barrett. "If it doesn't come from the fiscal year just ended, there will be no hope in the future." The Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board takes a more optimistic stance. "We are looking for more innovative ways to get help from the province," said chairwoman Linda Vandendriessche. "We're in such an economic downturn, and agriculture and particularly tobacco had been such an engine in this area, that we have to work with the government to find new ways of returning the strength of this industry." Meanwhile, all the 1,086 audited applications for exit packages under the federal program were approved by Ottawa on April 17, and cheques totaling just under $285 million have been sent to the growers. The board is now working on the new licensing system for those who want to grow tobacco in the future. Vandendriessche said about 100 eligible applicants have come forward. Only 22 holders of quota under the old system did not take a buyout. Because those who took packages had to surrender their right to grow, that means most of the licence applications come from "new entrants," she said. Enditem