national
farmers union
national
farmers unionSASKATOON, Sask. - National Farmers Union President Cory Ollikka today took off his shirt, packed it up, and mailed it to federal Finance Minister Paul Martin.
"Farmers are losing their shirts. Ottawa doesn't seem to understand that," said NFU President Cory Ollikka.
He continued: "The federal government took the Crow, they took two-price wheat, and they plan to take the freight rate cap. The result is that they are, in effect, taking our farms. The only thing that many farmers will have left is the shirts on their backs. We might as well send those to Ottawa too."
"Over the last decade, the federal government cut agricultural spending by $2.5 billion annually. The government now projects an accumulated surplus of almost $100 billion over the next five years. We're not even asking that they return all the money that they have cut from agriculture. However, they must not rack up large surpluses at the expense of farm families, Canadian towns and villages, and the rural economy. That would be ethically wrong and fiscally short sighted," said Ollikka.
"Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin is a millionaire businessman with a large government salary. He doesn't know what it's like to be part of a farm family struggling to hold onto a farm under attack in an international subsidy war. He doesn't know what it's like to work as hard and as well as you can and still have the land your grandfather farmed taken away from you. I don't know if we can ever make him understand, but this shirt campaign may, at least, get his attention," said Ollikka.
Record low commodity prices and rising costs mean farm families across Canada are facing huge losses. In Saskatchewan, realized net income for 1999 was $96 million: down 87% from the previous five-year average. Average realized net farm income in Saskatchewan for the five-year (1999-2003) period will be negative $55 million. The situation is the same on grain and hog farms across Canada.
"Without immediate federal government assistance, tens of thousands of farm families will be driven into bankruptcy. We need that money now," concluded Ollikka.
NFU members across Canada will send their shirts to Finance Minister Martin and work to expand the "we're-losing-our-shirts" campaign to all farmers across Canada. We encourage all farmers to join us in this campaign.
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