Thanks, Jacques.
Disaster coverage is a concern for our sectors. The November 17 announcement of the suite of BRM programming falls short in this area, as a disaster component now known as AgriRecovery will only offer compensation to a collective and not to individual farmers. In many cases of animal disease, collective disasters are avoided through the prompt response of individual farmers, yet for the individual farmer, this is still a disaster.
Our sectors need clarification, as we have been told that we are entirely excluded from AgriInvest, while we are also being told that we may be able to seek 100% coverage through AgriInvest in the case of a disaster. It's our understanding that under CAIS, dairy, poultry, and egg farmers were eligible for all three tiers of the program if they suffered a disaster that dropped their reference margin by more than 30%. Now, even if they suffer a disaster and have a drop in margin of more than 30%, they're excluded from the top 15% of AgriInvest coverage. This would mean that whereas our farmers had the ability to cover 100% of their net income, the best they can now hope for under the new programming is 85%. Department officials must clarify whether supply management farmers will be able to maintain 100% coverage in the case of a disastrous margin drop of more than 30%, and if not, why not.
Further to the suite of BRM programs, we'll use an example in the poultry sector to illustrate our point. Poultry farmers do not receive sufficient compensation through the Health of Animals Act regulations in the event that their flocks are ordered destroyed due to animal disease. The new maximums are insufficient for some of our commodities. This fact was acknowledged by the federal government in the regulatory impact analysis statement that accompanied the amendments. In the past, the industry was told that a phase two compensation program was forthcoming and that the gaps in coverage would be addressed. Phase two, however, continues to elude us. We have recently....
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