Support denied

While farmers have been protesting in droves seeking assurances that they'll have enough resources to plant crops this year, the Cons have responded only by holding back on the collection of money owed under the CAIS program, not by providing a cent beyond what farmers currently have in their possession:

Effective immediately, the government is deferring the collection of overpayments to individual farmers under the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program -- the so-called CAIS clawback -- until the retroactive program changes announced in Tuesday's $1.5-billion agriculture budget are calculated, Strahl said Friday during a speech at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

He also said there will be no interest on overpayments until Jan. 1, 2007.

Strahl said the announcement "assures farmers that the money they have in-hand, at least they can keep in-hand" while recalculations are underway.

In other words, any farmer with enough money on hand already will be fine regardless of any amounts owing. But for those who need a cash injection to keep their farms running? Well, there it gets more than a bit hazy:

Strahl also made note Friday of a new program aimed at helping low-income farmers find more options for the future and assist them in improving their business opportunities. He did not provide further details.

Needless to say, one has to figure that Strahl wouldn't have been holding back on the details of any program which had been thoroughly thought out. Which means that aside from not taking away money that farmers already have, the best the Cons seem willing to do is to plan to develop a plan eventually. And that can't be particularly comforting for farmers who need money - not just a delay in amounts owing - in order to keep their operations running.