Dry Summer Hit Hard At Canada’s Economy

Press, Volume C, Issue 29672, 16 November 1961, Page 6

Dry Summer Hit Hard At Canada’s Economy

IBy MELVIN SUFRIN, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent] TORONTO, November 14. Parched wheat fields and blackened forests are testimony to the double punch administered by dry weather to Canada’s economy. Drought in the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba cut the country’s wheat crop by more than 50 per cent.

Fires in tinder-dry forest destroyed timber covering more than 10,000 square -miles across the country. This is an area roughly equivalent to almost a quarter of New Zealand’s North Island. Forest fire, losses. will be felt for many years, particularly in the Atlantic coast Province of Newfoundland, where an estimated 200 million dollars worth of trees went up in smoke. The effects of the drought are just beginning to be felt as hardhit farmers pull in their belts and cut purchases of automobiles, machinery and Clothing. A big carry-over of grain from the previous harvest enabled Canada to meet her international commitments and there will be no difficulty filling this year’s big orders from China.

Danger Next Year Federal crop-insurance and farm-assistance programmes are helping to ease the hardship for some farmers who watched their crops wither in the fields. But agricultural experts are worried about next year. There is barely any moisture in the soil and unless the coming winter deposits considerable water, there is a prospect of another crop failure, which would be disastrous to many grain producers. The wheat crop this year is about 239 million bushels, compared with 489 million bushels in 1960. The value of farm produce is estimated at 990 million dollars, 380 million dollars less than last year. Thia bite in the buying power of he prairie farmer is likely to be felt right through the Canadian

economy. He has been forced to cut his purchases to essentials. A big farm machinery producer in Ontario has laid off 4000 employees as a result of the drop in sales which began several months ago. when farmers realised they would have a poor crop. No Price Rise Yet There has been no sign of a rise in the price of bread and cereals yet, but farmers in other parts of Canada must pay more for seed grains from the prairies and this will probably result in higher prices eventually for agricultural products. The extent oi the crop failure’s impact on the economy is masked to some extent by the *act that Canada’s economy generally is on the upswing after several years of recession. Unemployment has fallen sharply from last winter, when more than 10 per cent, of Canada’s labour force was out of work. About six per cent., or 6,000,000 workers, is without jobs now. The forest fire losses represent a long-term rather than an immediate blow. More than 8000 forest fires were reported, with record numbers in Newfoundland. Manitoba and Alberta. Newfoundland Fires Hardest hit, by reason of its relatively small total area, was Newfoundland where the worst drought in 80 years spawned 215 fires that ravaged almost 1.500,000 acres, half of it pu In wood-produc-ing spruce, and forced the evacuation of many communities. British Columbir and Ontario which are the country’s two big lumber and

pulp-wood producers, suffered stiff losses, but much of their destruction was in inaccessible areas where marketing would not have started for years. Most fires are caused by the carelessness of railways or industry, with lightning pa a secondary factor, and campers accounting for about 12 per cent. Canada has an estimated 1.700,000 square miles of forest, more than half of which is capable of producing merchantable timber. While millions of acres were untouched by flames and there is still plenty of timber to feed domestic and export needs, the losses are appalling. In one British Columbia fire, for example, 600 million board feet of prime timber —enough to build 90,000 homes—were destroyed.