Ontario Corn Producers' Association Newsletter | October 1999
Another biotech concern of OCPA directors is the continuing propensity of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to channel biotech research funds preferentially to Western Canada. Although OCPA was informed last spring that about half of $17 million in new AAFC funds in the 1999/00 federal budget for biotech research would be targeted to Central and Eastern Canada, (with about 22 per cent being for corn research), the resulting breakout is about two-thirds for AAFC research at Saskatoon and Winnipeg, and about 14 per cent for corn ... and this is after about $7 million will be removed "off the top" for some other RnationalS interests. While the money for corn research is appreciated and will be put to good use, the continuing bias in federal spending is of concern.
We note also that the National Research Council (NRC) received $17 million in new biotech research money in the same budget. Of that portion targeted for agricultural research (estimated to be at least half), it is understood that all will be going to Saskatoon.
The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix carried an announcement in mid-September of $20 million in new federal money over three years coming via the NRC and AAFC for expanded biotechnology research in that city.
There is serious talk of a new larger allocation of federal money for targeted "genomics" research with perhaps a third of the total commitment coming to agriculture. Ottawa has chosen AgWest Biotech in Saskatoon to head up the agricultural team. While University of Guelph researchers are involved somewhat in the planning process, with discussions about the use of some of the new money for corn and soybeans, this also sounds like a primarily Western initiative.
Federal agriculture minister the Honourable Lyle Vanclief has stated his intention to ensure a more equitable allocation of AAFC spending (including research spending) across provinces. But actions to date show no change in policy since he succeeded the Honourable Ralph Goodale, whose pro-Saskatchewan biases were (are) well known. And AAFC staff continue to trot out statistics attempting to mask the distortion by crediting the AAFC spending account with price benefits enjoyed by supply management farmers as a result of large import tariffs. (Curiously, they refuse to include income losses experienced as a result of federal regulatory impediments to the use in Canada of technology available only in competing countries, an issue especially relevant for horticulture.)
