Agriculture committee  It's a joint-funded program, partly by our provincial Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and partly by our P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture. We had FCC come to the table this year, after there was extensive media coverage, to offer some financial support as well. We typically have a $13,000 budget, but we discovered in 2017 that we had a 50% overrun.

Agriculture committee  I think a lot of what we could do is incredibly low-lying fruit. We could change the terms “seasonal agricultural worker” and “temporary foreign worker”. These have negative connotations to people who don't understand that the program has been in place for five decades and is incredibly valuable on both sides of the equation.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today. I am Mary Robinson, past president of the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture, P.E.I.'s largest general farm organization. Our federation's mandate is to help improve the sustainability of island farmers and farm families.