clarinews@clarinet.com (hewitt/ckrm) (02/02/90)
(REGINA) Saskatchewan Premier Grant Devine says Canada needs a one-BILLION-dollar a year contingency fund, to protect Canadian farmers against unfair subsidies given to their counterparts in other countries. Devine was reacting to a U-S decision to increase its grain export subsidies by 60 per cent. Devine says a contingency fund is the only way Canadian farmers can survive, until a multi-lateral solution to the problem is negotiated. Devine says it would have no impact to try to force the U-S to reverse its decision, because the Europeans are equally to blame for high subsidies. He insists Canada's best chance is to continue pressing its case at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations. Saskatchewan N-D-P Leader Roy Romanow says the U-S move is a betrayal of the free trade agreement, and the Americans must be forced to reverse the decision. If necessary, he wants Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to threaten to cancel the trade deal. Romanow says if the increased U-S subsidies are allowed to stand, prices will drop even further and Canada will lose its grain markets.