In the short term, my goal was to improve the AgriStability program. Indeed, after many, many hours of studying all the risk management programs and 22 discussions with my provincial and territorial colleagues, everyone agreed that AgriStability is the priority.
To make the program simpler, fairer and more generous, in November 2020, I made a proposal to my provincial and territorial colleagues that we remove the reference margin limit and increase the compensation rate from 70% to 80%. To implement these changes, I need the support of two-thirds of the provinces. However, the provinces' weight is based on how many participants they have in the program.
In other words, two of the three Prairie provinces have to support the program. I already have the support of Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and several Atlantic provinces. Now I need to get two of the three Prairie provinces on board. I remain hopeful that we will reach a consensus and then we can improve the AgriStability program as quickly as possible.