Buyouts for Tobacco Farmers Questioned

Source from:  HANK DANISZEWSKI, Free Press Business Reporter  05/16/2005

The recent buyout of some Ontario tobacco farmers was simply an expensive way for the federal Liberals to buy votes, says the spokesperson for an anti-smoking lobby. About 152 Ontario tobacco farmers recently sold their quota as part of new federal and provincial aid programs aimed at helping growers get out of the shrinking industry. But Francis Thompson, policy analyst for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association says the buyout will only eliminate some marginal growers, leaving the remaining 620 tobacco producers in a stronger position. The buyout will eliminate 51 million pounds of the 322 million pounds of quota now on the market. But last year the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board only allowed producers to grow 27 per cent of the quota they owned because of limited market demand. Thompson said the federal government announced the $67-million buyout for Canadian tobacco growers before last year's election in an unsuccessful attempt to prop up Bob Speller, the agriculture minister who was later defeated in the tobacco belt seat of Haldimand-Norfolk. The provincial government recently kicked in an additional $35 million to compensate growers. Tobacco board spokesperson Linda Litaer said the buyout programs are a genuine first step to winding down the industry. She said if the market continues to shrink she expects more producers will leave. The size of the Ontario tobacco crop has tumbled in recent years to about 87 million pounds. Thompson said the money spent on buying out a small number of farmers would be far better spent on non-smoking programs that could save the lives of thousands of Canadians. Enditem