NEWS RELEASE

BREITKREUZ, LUKIWSKI REITERATE CONSERVATIVE COMMITMENT TO AG INDUSTRY
“Every person in the ag food chain makes a profit except the person who creates the profit.
If we don’t start changing things, we may not have a food chain.”

YORKTON – The 2006 federal re-election campaign for Garry Breitkreuz hit full stride Friday night, as 200 supporters attended a fundraising banquet in Yorkton.

The real theme of the evening came out during speeches by both Breitkreuz, Conservative Party candidate for Yorkton-Melville, and Tom Lukiwski, Conservative Party candidate for Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre. Both reiterated and reinforced the Conservative Party’s commitment to agriculture, an industry 95 per cent of Canadians do not understand.

“The thing that still disturbs me most is the number of farmers that come in and say how hard it is,” said Breitkreuz in addressing the audience. “CAIS (Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program) has done nothing for farmers and it has to be scrapped.”

“We are closer to a national crisis than anyone in Canada will realize,” added Lukiwski. “I have talked to so many producers who have said they will not have enough money to even put in a crop this year.”

Since the Liberals took power in 1993, Canada’s agriculture sector has been virtually ignored. CAIS has resulted in enormous costs to producers with little in return. It has been insignificant and did not aid farmers affected by natural disasters like those hitting Yorkton-Melville – the drought of 2003, the frost in 2004 and in 2005, the 17 inches of rain during August and September in the Prairie River area.

In fact, the Liberal government has stood in the way of plans, put forward by the Conservative Party, to assist agriculture producers. Included among those, was a motion, tabled in February 2005 by the Conservatives, to drop the CAIS deposit requirement in order to deliver timely relief to struggling farmers. The Liberals, led by Paul Martin and Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell voted against that motion. And there are many other instances of Liberal ignorance toward the ag industry.

“We have to make farming profitable,” said Lukiwski. “Every person in the ag food chain makes a profit except the person who creates the profit. If we don’t start changing things, we may not have a food chain.”

The Conservative Party put forward its plan for agriculture on Dec, 21, 2005. Included in its ag policy is the replacement of CAIS with separate farm income stabilization and disaster relief programs; a commitment of an additional $500 million annually to farm support programs; providing western grain farmers the freedom to make their own marketing and transportation decisions; defending Canada’s agricultural sectors when negotiating international trade agreements; and requiring five per cent average renewable content in Canadian gasoline and diesel fuel, such as ethanol and biodiesel, by 2010.

“The Conservative Party has always been committed to our agriculture producers,” said Breitkreuz. “We understand the agriculture industry because so many of us have direct ties to the industry. We will educate Canadians on the importance of our agriculture industry and make the changes necessary to fully support our farmers.”

“Lukiwski added, “A Conservative Government understands agriculture, supports agriculture, and promotes agriculture. It is vitally important. We have the political will to make the necessary changes. It will not be easy, or overnight, but a Conservative Government will go to the wall for you.”

The Conservative Party Agriculture Plan, in its entirety, is available at http://www.conservative.ca/EN/1091/36361 . The Conservative Party Platform is available at http://www.conservative.ca/media/20060113-Platform.pdf.

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