Mr. Chairman, I won't read the whole document, but I want to continue on the second-last page and talk about what we would actually like to see happen.
Curtiss certainly outlined--and I don't think we have to persuade anybody--that we're in a crisis, probably the worst we've ever seen. It's certainly the worst in my lifetime. I've only seen a situation like this once before, and it is a deep crisis.
As the Canadian Pork Council, we have come to the consensus that we don't feel the existing suite of programs is enough to deal with this kind of crisis, although some are certainly very helpful. As a result, we have asked Agriculture Canada to embark on a program that would give producers liquidity and the confidence they need to carry on until times will be much better, as Curtiss outlined, in terms of the prospect for the world consumption of pork.
We would like to see Agriculture Canada initiate a loan program to loan cash to producers. As a commercial-type loan to producers, it would cover the shortfall between what they actually receive from the marketplace compared with what they would have received, let's say, on a five-year average price. This would be an unsecured loan to be paid back over a period of three to five years. We expect to see this downturn somewhere from 6 months to 18 months--preferably less than 18 months, but certainly at least 6 months. These producers would draw on the program and then pay that money back, based on market returns, as market returns went above that benchmark price.
Further, we would like to see the federal government make advances on the 2008 CAIS program. Essentially this would not be a loan but an advance. It would not require interest payments; it would be the producers' own money.
We have often made comments very similar to what the Canadian Cattlemen's Association has outlined on the CAIS program. There certainly are some very good things about the program, but the biggest challenge is the fact that we, as farmers, have to wait for our money. By the nature of the program, that's the way it's designed. By the nature of the program, it's not countervailable. But the downside is that you have to wait for the money, and it's sometimes difficult to know how much money you're actually going to receive, so we've asked the minister to get the payments out and to facilitate the targeted advance program as quickly as possible. We know there is some activity going on there and we do appreciate that.
Like the Cattlemen's Association, again, we find the caps on the program extremely difficult for our industry. We find that the caps actually target our industry probably more than anyone else's. Horticulture and perhaps cattle are also impacted.
As an example, in Saskatchewan three-quarters of the production is produced by about four producers, who would conceivably be over that cap. From our point of view, they're a very important part of our industry, but the federal government does not make an effort to maintain that production. It impacts our entire industry because we lose that production and that infrastructure.
We really need to look at the overall cap on CAIS and even more at the $22,000 cap on the AgriInvest program, which is even more restrictive. Probably one-third the size of an operation would get capped out on the AgriInvest. That's probably unacceptable for us.
Consequently, partly as a result of the cap, we're asking the government to give producers a choice. The AgriInvest program could conceivably work over time, but because we're going into it in the middle of a crisis and because the kitty isn't built up, the AgriInvest program will not work for many producers. In the first year they get the kickstart, and it could conceivably work if there was no cap; in the second year, when you don't have the kickstart and if we're still in a draw position with CAIS, it would not work for us at all.
Again, like the Cattlemen's Association, we'd like to see the producers have a choice. We've asked this from the start. The producers would like to be able to choose the better of the three-year average and the Olympic average. We feel this would make the CAIS program a little more reliable. The program gets criticized because it works for some and not others, and that would alleviate some of that criticism and certainly help some individual producers.
Again, similar to the cattlemen, our industry has gone through severe trauma as a result of the circovirus disease, especially in Ontario and Quebec, and in fact spreading into parts of the prairies. This is a disease that's been dealt with now. We have a vaccine. The problem is somewhat resolved, but those producers who experienced severe losses, again coming into a time now when they have low market returns, don't have any margins, so we're asking that this situation be dealt with as well.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.