Agriculture committee  You had bankers here this morning. If a company requesting a loan has insurance coverage or some kind of protection, it is an asset both for the company and the creditor. At the moment, our companies have nothing of that kind. We did before, but it has been withdrawn for one rea

Agriculture committee  In theory, that is what makes the difference. In Alberta, for example, six nurseries sell their products to a cooperative, which in turn distributes the trees. The people in the nurseries do not know if the trees are going to be used ornamentally, for reforestation, or for soil r

Agriculture committee  You are right, I think. In Revenue Canada documents, Christmas tree producers are defined as agricultural producers, meaning that they can declare that income as farming income.

Agriculture committee  If I grow seedlings to sell to Christmas tree producers, I would not be excluded.

Agriculture committee  We have no idea.

Agriculture committee  We declare our income by using product codes. We put “nursery“ and “ornamental“. As you said, there is an administrative limbo, and we really do not know where we fit. When we have asked, we have never been told when and why we were excluded, nor which piece of paper allows it.

Agriculture committee  No. The same seedlings, the same species, can be used for soil rehabilitation. In Alberta, for example, a lot of seedlings are used to rehabilitate the tar sands. The same client can buy seedlings and use them for reforestation or just for planting on waste land. That is reforest

Agriculture committee  We have been agricultural producers since 1980.

Agriculture committee  We operate in good faith. We explain, we provide details, we make our case. People take our arguments and sort of use them against us. This was only added afterwards and spelled out in that way in the documents of Revenue Canada, the AgriInvest and AgriStability programs, even CA

Agriculture committee  We have never been given a specific reason. I can only think that the nature of our situation is misunderstood inside the program administration. For example, in Quebec, the program is administered by La Financière agricole du Québec. Even at La Financière, no one can tell us wh

Agriculture committee  Our company has not claimed benefits under the program since it has existed because we have been in a good situation, but other Quebec nurseries have. They have in Alberta too. It is difficult to provide an amount, because people have not done their calculations yet.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the invitation to this meeting of the committee. First of all, I would like to quickly introduce Pampev. We are an agricultural company from Quebec City, founded in 1980. Our main product is forest seedlings. I would l