To the Editor:
Buried in the Conservatives' obnoxious Omnibus Bill last spring were 30 pages listing billions of dollars in cuts to federal departments and agencies over the next three years.
At the time, Canadians were told they wouldn't be affected by these cuts. More than 19,000 federal jobs would be eliminated, but only in the so-called "back offices" in Ottawa. Front-line services to Canadians would remain untouched.
That was obviously a lie, and the proof is becoming more evident daily.
Here in Saskatchewan, for example, immigration and trade offices have closed. National Parks and Historic Sites are being down-graded. Environmental science has been chopped. Community internet sites have been eliminated. There's much less emphasis on community crime prevention programs. Federal support for local emergency preparedness and training is gone. Etc., etc., etc.
All of this hurts "front line" services. But probably the biggest impacts are in agriculture.
The Harper government obviously doesn't consider the integrity of Canada's food inspection system a "front line" federal obligation. Their attitude throughout the on-going XL Foods E.coli scandal has been one of indifference and negligence. From coast-to-coast, Canadians are calling the federal Agriculture Minister incompetent.
His only specific response is to confirm a $56-million budget reduction for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, while refusing to let the Auditor-General examine the adequacy of the government's food safety procedures and funding.
But that's not all. Budget cuts in the Department of Agriculture are eliminating the long-standing federal Community Pastures program which has maintained 2.3 million acres of vital prairie grazing land for small and medium-sized livestock producers. Apparently, these producers are not "front line" Canadians.
Similarly, the Indian Head Tree Nursery is being sold off. This vital centre of agro-forestry expertise and planting stock has been on the "front lines" of prairie soil conservation and land management excellence for 111 years. And now it's gone.
And don't forget the huge cuts to farm income "safety net" programs which help farmers manage through the inevitable production and market failures which are an inherent part of farming. As Saskatchewan's provincial Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart pointed out, to undermine these vital "front line" investments in the long-term stability of agriculture is bad policy. But that's exactly what the feds are doing.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
