President's Report: Jan'09
Happy New Year reps and directors
The Christmas season and sunny vacations are behind us now.
This message will also be distributed early next week by TalkMail - this is our first attempt at contacting you this way since the AGM and we look forward to receiving your feedback as to its effectiveness.
This past year ended with some very positive statements being made by Premier Wall and Ministers Bjornerud and Gantefoer regarding recognition of the challenges facing the livestock industry.
Our response was to issue a press release and write letters to them to congratulate them for recognizing the need to find solutions to these challenges and, offered our association’s perspective and recommendations.
I received a very kind response from Premier Wall on Jan 13 thanking us for our support. He wrote “I will continue lobbying the federal government for a livestock assistance payment, given they are providing support for the automotive and aeronautic industries. We have consistently and often raised the need for federal intervention for the cattle sector if help is to be provided for any sector.”
The premier copied this letter to both Ministers Bjornerud and Gantefoer.
To say the least we have opened the lines of communication with the provincial government. We have once again requested a face to face meeting with Minister Bjonerud to discuss this and other issues
Vice presidents Jeff Simpson and Don Connick attended the Western Farm Leaders mtg. and Wild Rose Ag Producers annual meeting in Edmonton on Jan.5& 6.
The rail freight overpayment amounts to more than 2.00 dollars/tonne. We keep paying more, while rail service gets worse. We issued a media release calling for a return of this overage to farmers. The money is slated to go to the Western Gains Research Fund. It’s rather simple, this is farmer’s money and we want it back, while still recognizing the need for funds in research.
The most recent modality of the W.T.O. trade talks causes concern for many Canadian farmers. As the voice for agriculture in Saskatchewan, and as a member of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, we need to ensure that the government takes our policy position into consideration when negotiations resume.
On Jan 22 your executive met. We reviewed our committee structure and made some changes to align ourselves more with those of the CFA. Board members were assigned positions to the committees of their choice, whom along with the elected reps, will form the teams that will begin the committee work.
Take care and stay warm.