Federal budget “falls short”

The federal budget delivered April 16 held no surprises for agriculture and little to cheer about, either.

The budget allocated $64 million to support an increase in the interest-free limit on Advance Payments Program loans to $250,000 from $100,000 for the 2024 program year.

However, the announcement had already been made nearly a month earlier on March 25.

The budget document followed this with a nod to the “crucial” importance of the livestock tax deferral program in protecting farmers from the impacts of climate change, pledging to work with the Canadian Cattle Association and others “to ensure farmers get support quicker and more efficiently in times of need.” But no new funds were forthcoming.

Similarly, the budged acknowledged “the essential role farmers play for our food security” and congratulated itself on providing a refundable tax credit to farmers for federal carbon taxes collected on on-farm natural gas and propane. However, the government also failed to expand carbon tax exemptions for farmers when it passed Bill C-234 last December.

Perhaps the best news for farmers was a proposal to expand the limit on capital gains exemptions, though farm groups also criticized this as complicating succession planning rather than making it simpler.

The budget failed to pass muster with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which represents the BC Agriculture Council and other provincial farm organizations on national issues.

The budget “falls short,” CFA said, noting that farmers face a number of financial challenges from carbon pricing and business risk management programs that deserve Ottawa’s attention.

“While we understand there are competing priorities for government funds, with erratic weather and high prices tremendously increasing the risk profile of Canadian agriculture, the government can ill-afford to ignore food production and Canadian farmers,” said CFA president Keith Currie.