Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Broadview—Greenwood for his contribution this evening to this very important debate.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss the concerns surrounding the level of farm income this year. I share with farmers and members of the House their concern over the difficult realities a number of farmers are facing.
I want my colleagues across the floor to understand, as I believe they do but I want to remind them, how closely the minister of agriculture and the government have worked with producers and with other levels of government to put in place an effective system of safety nets to protect farmers and their income. That is something that does not come across in what hon. members are reading in the papers and seeing on television. Too many people want to make this a federal government problem when in fact it is everyone's problem. The government has been working with all the players to balance all the interests and develop solutions that are acceptable to all the partners.
Partnership has been the hallmark of farm safety net policy over the last half decade. In December 1994, after a year of consultations with farm groups, the minister of agriculture and agri-food of the day achieved a national consensus for a new Canadian farm safety net system, one that is income based and established on the whole farm principle, a system predicated on balancing the needs of all regions and all sectors.
Partnerships yield results and our safety net system is proof of that. Working together, producers and governments developed one of the most predictable, effective and reliable systems of farm income protection in the world, and this system is still evolving. Contributions to both design and funding come from farmers themselves, from the federal government and from all the provincial governments.
Improvements are being sought on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, today's market conditions are one of the driving forces behind the effort to improve safety net programming. However, Canadian farmers have a solid foundation on which to build and the federal government is continuing to work with them through the national safety net advisory committee to develop these improvements.
Currently farmers in the country have a safety net system made up of crop insurance, the net income stabilization account or NISA and specific provincial initiatives. As things stand now, the Government of Canada invests $60 million each and every year to these programs with the provinces spending an additional $400 million.
The NISA account and federal-provincial crop insurance are designed to help farmers deal with normal market risks and weather. NISA is a voluntary program designed to help producers achieve stable incomes over the long term. It provides producers with the opportunity to deposit money annually into their income stabilization account and receive matching government contributions so their account grows. In lower income years producers are expected to bring their incomes up by making withdrawals from the funds they set aside in previous high income years.
Currently there are 105,000 Canadian producers with a total of $1.2 billion available in their NISA accounts. They can withdraw that money at any time. Up until October 14, 24,000 Canadian producers had withdrawn $261 million. These funds are helping many farm families weather the current market downturns.
The existing safety net system was designed to deal with the normal cyclical risks that markets and mother nature present but the minister of agriculture has recognized that what has been happening over the past year and a half has been exceptional. All the cycles essentially bottomed out at the same time and a number of other factors came together to make the situation even worse. Many farmers' revenues plummeted as prices fell from the highs of the mid-nineties to dramatic lows.
That is why the Government of Canada responded with the AIDA program. It was developed in consultation with industry and the provinces. It is providing $1.5 billion with 60% coming from the federal government and 40% coming from the provincial governments. This money has been paid out over two years to help farmers through an income crisis.
In announcing AIDA in December 1998 the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food said:
The objective is to target the farmers in Canada who, I am confident, will succeed in the long term but need help now, due to circumstances beyond their control.
The AIDA program builds on NISA, crop insurance and other existing risk management mechanisms. It was designed to meet the green criteria of the WTO agreement on agriculture.
Because of our international commitments and obligations, I do not believe answers can be found by stepping back 10 years into the past with a repeat of ineffective, inequitable and unaffordable subsidies. Such measures cannot be financially sustained nor are they suited to an agri-food sector that is very dependent on the world marketplace.
Instead the government will continue to defend the interests of Canadian farmers in the international trade arena. We will use the upcoming world trade negotiations to work toward removing trade distorting subsidies so our farmers can compete on a level playing field in the global trading system.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has a long history of working with farmers and the agri-food industry to achieve those things which make our industry thrive. Despite recent challenges, our sector as a whole is remarkably strong. Our existing safety nets and now AIDA will help ensure it stays that way.
That said, the Government of Canada understands that the current programs can be improved upon. We are currently in the process of considering additional modifications to the AIDA program for the 1999 tax year. We are setting out the parameters for the long term safety net options for the future. All changes to AIDA and/or the development of any long term safety net options will be done in consultation and in partnership with the provinces, with the minister's national safety nets advisory committee and also with farm organizations.
Canadian producers have faced adversity before and have come through it, thanks to their own strength and innovation and thanks also to the efforts of all governments working together.
The ability of the agriculture and food industry to overcome the current challenge rests on the strength and stability of its foundation at home. Over the past year we have been working hard to provide that stable foundation by improving the existing safety net system and by developing new tools like AIDA. That work continues.