Barlow Says Farmers Will See Relief Through Government COVID-19 Benefit Plan

Farmers won't be left behind when it comes to government money being handed to workers and businesses losing out during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Foothills MP, John Barlow, says the Feds say they're going to lift the cap on loans from Farm Credit Canada as well as opening loan applications sooner.

Barlow says a lot of these issues came up when he spoke to Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau this past week.

"Those are some things I did bring to the Minister's attention this week. As well as exempting the carbon tax from agriculture I think would be a very strong step forward. But obviously a lot of our farmers, ranchers and producers have jobs off the farm. And they can certainly apply for some of these programs through small businesses, EDC and ESTC as well."

Barlow says he also wants to assure residents the supply chain remains fully functional despite the closure of the Canada/U.S. border to non-essential travel.

he says the border remains open to trade and consumer goods.