Our organization favours the creation of a disaster relief program. The current discussions on CAIS would have CAIS apply first, with all its flaws, and then a disaster relief program. Things can't work that way.
Mr. Bilodeau gave the example of potato producers and horticultural producers. They have to destroy their crops when there is no compensation program for them. They are told to wait to see what CAIS will do, and then they will get help for the clean up, etc. The first thing producers need is to have their earnings restored to the level they would be if the disaster had never happened, and then they can access the regular programs. If the farm income has not gone down, CAIS will not kick in.
Producers are not looking for double compensation, but we want our losses to be covered in the order in which they were incurred. The disaster-related losses need to be addressed first and then CAIS can be applied to the farm income. Otherwise, we will see the same problems as with CAIS. Producers with other sources of income will have to destroy their potatoes, but the other income will be used to cover the lost crop. That does not make sense. Other producers will receive compensation for their potatoes. The disaster needs to be dealt with first and then the regular programs can be used.