Legislative Report, 16 February 2005

This week at the Legislature I’ve been settling in to the new Health critic portfolio. Rod Gantefoer did an excellent job of holding the government accountable and bringing forward health concerns from people throughout the province and I will do my utmost to continue that good work.

This week, I want to talk about an issue critical to our agricultural industry. Last week, Mark Wartman made what is sadly turning into an annual announcement. Crop insurance rates are going up, coverage is going down. Blaming lower commodity prices, Wartman said premium increases were needed to keep the insurance program running. Premiums went up by nine percent on average.

The news is worse for people in the Lloydminster/Wilkie area. Premiums there are going up by 46 percent. To the north-west of Saskatoon, the increases will average between 20 and 25 percent.

And what to you get for our money? Coverage amounts to $72 an acre. That’s barely enough to cover expenses.

Over the past three years, the crop insurance record has been truly abysmal. Increases were nine percent this year, 13 in 2004, and 52 percent in 2003. Coverage has dropped from $102 per acre down to $72 over the same period.

The problem is this: the Calvert NDP isn’t running crop insurance like a true business. And I guess that’s not surprising. To stay solvent and make money, an insurance pool uses the money from the good years to pay for the bad years. Over a set period of time, 15 years in the case of crop insurance, things are supposed to average out and you’re usually a little bit ahead.

However, there’s a problem with crop insurance. It looks like the money gained during productive years has found somewhere else to go. The people of Saskatchewan have a right to know where it is. However, information provided in Public Accounts isn’t specific enough to provide a definitive answer and Saskatchewan producers deserve an answer.

Past Legislative Reports