NDP repeats calls for action committee on drought relief

After nearly a decade of drought in the southwest, the Saskatchewan NDP is calling for action from the provincial government.

On Wednesday, the opposition reiterated its calls for the creation of a drought action committee.

The committee would involve affected producers and would focus on strengthening emergency measures and business risk management programs.

“(The Government of Saskatchewan) needs to sit and work with these producers and these municipalities because they know best what levers exist within those programs,” said agriculture critic Trent Wotherspoon.

“There’s a range of common-sense calls that these producers have made that would adjust and make changes to these programs to provide them the support they need.”

Wotherspoon said one of the changes would include the creation of a threshold to enable farmers to combine and retain seed from poor yields without being penalized by crop insurance going forward.

Wotherspoon and the NDP also called for a 10-year deferral on taxes for producers who have been forced to sell breeding stock because of the drought.

The Government of Saskatchewan doubled the maximum payment cap for the AgriStability business risk management program in July.

However, Wotherspoon said the province needed to go further.