Evidence of meeting #9 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was meeting.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
I want to take you to the AgriRecovery program. Each year the Government of Canada generally allocates about $125 million for AgriRecovery. Is that correct?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Hold on a second. For AgriRecovery, the average of the last five years is about $15 million, and this year we have announced $125 million, which is significantly more important.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
However, the allocation in a budget doesn't mean that that's necessarily spent. It's only incurred if something happens where the government feels it is important to trigger it with the provinces to respond. Is that correct?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Yes, exactly. The allocated amount was $125 million. It was only utilized at an average of $15 million for the last five years. Now we have already committed the full amount.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Minister, is it fair to say that on January 1, 2020, you intended to allocate $125 million to a set-aside program for the beef and pork or poultry sectors? Is that something you anticipated coming into the year?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
No. This program is responsive to the provinces' requests.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
No, I didn't think so. Obviously, that money was allocated in the budget, but had you not made the decision to actually expend that money and provide it, it wouldn't have necessarily flowed. Is that correct?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
No. Once again, the average of the last five years was about $15 million.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
The reason, Minister, that I'm asking this is that there's been some suggestion on this committee that, of course, this is not new money. I just wanted to make sure that we hit home the point that these are allocated, but there's a difference between allocation and actually expending the money. Thank you for that clarification.
Minister, I want to talk about how, obviously, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is an important stakeholder group. It engages with you. One of its priorities is, of course, supporting our processing sector. We announced $20 million for the CFIA. That was meant to help alleviate some of the bottlenecks. Is that correct?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
In terms of the recruitment of farm workers, we have put some measures in place on the Government of Canada website to try to encourage domestic workers and to work with industry. Is that correct?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
As part of the labour challenges that we're seeing, you mentioned this. Could you repeat it for all of us? Right now there is 86% of the number of temporary foreign workers actually in the country as compared to last year.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Okay, and we introduced $50 million in support programs to help farmers as a result of the additional costs. Is that correct?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Okay.
Obviously, liquidity is a big piece of the conversation as well. We know there have been challenging times for farmers. We announced $5 billion for Farm Credit Canada. You said that almost 80% of that is already accumulated, and it's been helping thousands of farmers. Can you elaborate on that?
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Well, Farm Credit Canada reported to me that more than $4 billion out of the $5 billion of additional money we have given it has been provided to producers so that they can extend, for example, the duration of their loans, push further the payment of their loans. To put it in context, they're not additional loans. It's giving them flexibility and helping them manage their cash flow.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
I want to talk about the Canada emergency business account. We've mentioned that. Mr. Barlow mentioned it. Of course, there are some farmers who don't meet the $20,000 payroll threshold, but many do. Have you heard any examples of farmers taking advantage of that program?
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
I want to talk about the business credit availability program, some $65 billion. That's available to farmers as well. Is that correct?
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
I want to talk to you about the Canada emergency wage subsidy. Obviously, the Prime Minister has talked about extending that. Presuming that farmers would meet the threshold of normal businesses—
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Sorry, Mr. Blois, we're actually out of time. We're going to have to move to the next questioner.
Mr. Perron, you have the floor for six minutes.