Canadian Pork Council appeals to Prime Minister
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister on Wednesday, the CPC has appealed for an immediate response to the current hog industry crisis.
President of the Council, Clare Schlegel, wrote that “the 11,000 hog producers in Canada are facing their worst financial crisis in 30 years and need immediate help from the federal government.”
The Council (CPC) has been working with the Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and officials at the department and Agri-Food Canada over the last four months to try to find ways to offset the impact of the high Canadian dollar against the US dollar, soaring feed costs and low hog prices.
Canada’s hog industry is simply looking for a short-term loan programme and improvements to the CAIS (AgriStability) programme. So far these requests have not been addressed by the government and liquidity problems are worsening on a daily basis.
Schlegel further states that “the industry appreciates efforts by the government to speed up payments within existing programmes but this is not enough. This valued-added meat industry is at risk. Farm families in ridings across Canada are affected.”
For the CPC and its members, rural Canada is facing a disaster. They are appealing to the Conservative Party of Canada to honour its election promises in 2006 to “pitch in when disaster strikes.”
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