Goodale and Agriculture

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito,

With numerous farm sectors in depression, many in 1930's atmosphere... why not one word about this in the 23rd Budget?

Completely left off the map, without even a comment... we simply don't exist any more!

Interesting... without food... where would Canadians be?

Knowing Goodale's background, this MUST be intentional... that he did nothing, said nothing, and see's nothing.

[Incognito]

There were 6899 words in Budget speech. Agriculture and Farm are each mentioned once:

And we will bolster the work of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration as Canada’s expert agency in matters related to the environment and agriculture.

Sad....

[wd9]

Here is the link to the budget for those interested:

http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget05/bp/bptoce.htm

PDF or html format.

[charliep]

One thing I had highlighted to me impacting agriculture is the change in the way dividends are handled for agricultural cooperatives.

"Canada’s Agricultural Cooperatives
In its December 2004 report, Study on Small Business Tax Measures: Canada’s Agricultural Cooperatives, the Committee recommended that the Government immediately allow the deferral of tax on patronage dividends paid in shares; create a cooperative investment plan to encourage agricultural cooperative members and employees to invest in their cooperatives; and undertake a review of tax and non-tax measures that would enable the cooperative sector to meet its capitalization needs.

The Committee’s report noted that, due to a number of factors, agricultural cooperatives may have difficulty raising capital. The report identified a number of reasons to support the capitalization of agricultural cooperatives: they play an important role in regional development and the rural economy; they are an important part of Canada’s agricultural sector; and their presence supports and sustains family farms and small agricultural businesses throughout rural Canada.

This budget proposes to allow members of agricultural cooperatives to defer paying tax on patronage dividends they receive in the form of shares until the shares are disposed of. This measure is expected to reduce federal revenues by about $10 million in 2005–06 and $30 million in 2006–07 and subsequent years. The cooperative investment plan, which was also recommended by the Committee, will remain under consideration.

The Government will monitor the effectiveness of this measure and, as the Committee recommended, will continue to assess the capitalization challenges of the agricultural cooperative sector."

Not that much discussion about value adding/community investment in this thread but may help with some financing of these community projects.