VICTORIA— After more than five years of doing nothing to address the crisis in the cattle industry, the B.C. Liberal government continues to offer little to ranchers except more empty promises, say New Democrats.

“For the last five years New Democrat MLAs have been calling on the government to take action to address the crisis in our cattle industry,” said New Democrat agriculture critic Lana Popham . “The sad reality is that many ranchers went out of business before the B.C. Liberal government was even willing to sit down with the industry.”Lana Popham
Popham’s comments come in the wake of the release of a report from the government-led Ranching Task Force. The report issued a series of recommendations aimed at improving conditions for the province’s cattle industry.
“Unfortunately, the Ranching Task Force report may be just another meaningless public relations exercise,” said Popham. “The B.C. Liberals cut funding for agriculture by more than 25 per cent this year.

“If the government doesn’t start acknowledging agriculture as an economic driver and job creator and begin to reinvest in the sector, the ranching report will end up collecting dust like so many of the Liberal's previous reports."
British Columbia spends less per capita to support agriculture than any other province. Under the B.C. Liberals, key programs such as Buy B.C. were cut, extension services which could have helped the industry adapt to new market realities have been decimated, and the province’s food supply has been significantly undermined.
“It’s time for this government to actively foster the growth of the domestic market for locally produced and processed beef, reinstate the Buy B.C. program, and restore farm gate sales for small meat producers,” said Popham. “Export markets are important, but in a world facing climate change and higher energy prices because of peak oil it simply makes sense to maximize the market on our doorstep.”
While supporting many of the recommendations made by the report, Popham expressed concern others could be used to further weaken the Agricultural Land Reserve.
“The B.C. Liberal government has consistently attacked the Agricultural Land Reserve since coming into power in 2001,” said Popham. “It’s essential to protect agricultural land to ensure British Columbians enjoy food security today and in the future.”
Carole James and New Democrats are putting forward innovative ideas to strengthen our agriculture industry and promote local food products. This fall, the opposition proposed legislation that would restore British Columbians’ ability to buy fresh meat products from local farmers.