Yes, Mr. Chairman.
I think the word “affordability” came into play in a lot of these programs in the past, and it continues to be an issue for the provincial government in consultations with the federal government. The word “affordability” comes up time and time again, and that's a problem. If we use the word “affordability” as the be-all to design programs, yes, there are going to be constraints on whether producers can access programs, because the dollar value will have a finite limit.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was in terms of the distribution of the money. The grains and oilseeds sector has had a huge issue with declining margins, and it's something that hasn't been addressed by CAIS. Perhaps a NISA component would be a better way of addressing declining margins because of the allowance of inputs in the calculation.
In terms of the dollar distribution, horticulture has been seriously shortchanged in the recent federal announcements. Maybe not in the most recent announcement, but going back last year, $900 million flowed to the grains and oilseeds and cattle sectors through inventory evaluation, and in applying that methodology nothing went to horticulture.
If you talk about equal access of producers to government programs, that's one area where it's been sadly lacking, horticulture, which is 80% of the agriculture GDP in this country and produces crops that are readily edible by Canadian citizens. We have been left hanging, and some of the sectors—and I'm saying particularly our sector—went through a major financial disaster in 2004, thanks very much to our U.S. friends. So we are a small voice, and we haven't been heard. I say this with respect for the cattle sector and grains and oilseeds sector, because they've had their issues.
One other thing is that I also support the proposal for a separate disaster component. When you talk about affordability, what has depleted the CAIS program funds provincially and federally has been instances such as avian influenza and BSE. If we had a separate catastrophic loss or disaster pillar, those issues would be taken care of outside of the regular safety net program.