Liberals Push for Tobacco Exit Plan

Source from:  brantfordexpositor.ca By Daniel Pearce 05/06/2008

Liberals say they will try to bring the plight of beleaguered tobacco farmers to the floor of the House of Commons in Ottawa this week in an emergency debate. Brant MP Lloyd St. Amand said his party will ask the speaker of the House to call a special session to discuss an exit program to help growers leave their shrinking industry. Last week, St. Amand and Liberal Agriculture critic Wayne Easter successfully pushed through a motion in Parliament's agriculture advisory committee calling for the Conservative government to implement the buyout program put forward this spring by the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board. The committee chairman must now report the recommendation to Parliament, St. Amand said. This, he said, will be followed by a question to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on whether he supports the motion and the request for the debate. no friends "They have no friends on this, " St. Amand said in an interview. "All opposition parties are clamouring for the government to do something. " The motion in the committee passed by a 7-4 vote. Four Liberals, two Bloc Quebecois and one New Democrat MP voted in favour, while four Conservatives were against. The tobacco board has been calling for a buyout for many months as the industry continues to shrink dramatically. This year's crop is expected to be about one-sixth of what it was a decade ago. Ritz announced last month that his government has rejected the idea of funding an exit plan and instead is asking growers to apply to existing farm aid programs. Tobacco farmers deserve their own program, St. Amand said, because their industry is unlike any other agricultural commodity. He noted it generates $9 billion a year in taxes, while the exit program put forward by the board would cost about $465 million. Enditem