Agriculture Committee on Jan. 31st, 2022

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

In terms of the federal/provincial joint supply chain recovery working group, which is a very long title for a working group, what measures has that group either taken or recommended?

Mr. Del Bianco, I'll ask you, but you can pass that off to another member of your team, if you want.

[Francesco Del Bianco]

I think my colleague Stéphanie Durand may be in a better position to respond to that.

Stéphanie, would you be able to respond?

[Stéphanie Durand, Director General, Emergency Management and Programs Branch, Public Safety Canada]

Thank you.

That particular committee is being led out of Transport Canada. We'd be happy to reach out to other colleagues and follow up with additional information if the member wants us to. The work is at the early stages, but I would suggest that we could follow up after the meeting.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Chair, how much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

You have 25 seconds.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

This is a quick question.

Of the number of producers or agri-food businesses that have been impacted by this natural disaster, what percentage would you estimate have applied for the different types of support that they need? Is there any estimate of that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

You have 10 seconds, Mr. Del Bianco.

[Francesco Del Bianco]

It's difficult, because.... Most producers, with the exception of those who are supply-managed, have access to their AgriInvest accounts, so we can see the withdrawal rates. With AgriStability, if they're already enrolled, they'll file their request after they file their taxes. We're also encouraging producers who haven't already enrolled to enrol in AgriStability through late participation—

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Mr. Del Bianco. I apologize. Perhaps it's something you can table to Mr. Turnbull.

I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Perron.

Mr. Perron, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I also thank the witnesses for being with us today for this important meeting.

Before I begin, I would like to express my solidarity with the producers in British Columbia who have been severely affected by these natural disasters.

I would now like to address Mr. Del Bianco.

Mr. Del Bianco, in your opening remarks, you said that farmers could access some money in a matter of weeks through the AgriStability program. Because of the cumbersome administration of support programs—and I don't mean to be critical in saying that—producers often tell us that it takes a long time for the money to flow.

Given the extreme emergency that British Columbia is currently experiencing, can you tell us what money farmers have already accessed? What is the timeline on the assistance they need to complete the restructuring, recover from the tragedy and return to normal production activities?

[Francesco Del Bianco]

As I mentioned earlier about the AgriStability program, along with the provinces, we have put in place measures so that agricultural producers can apply for interim payments. Normally they can receive 50% of these payments, but we have increased the threshold to 75%. To date, 122 producers have applied for interim payments.

Normally, the AgriStability program applies several months after the event, mainly because producers must file a tax return first.

Thereafter, they have up to six months to provide additional information. With this measure we have put in place, producers can receive money within a few weeks. We've talked to our colleagues in British Columbia, who have responded extremely quickly to the situation.

And then there are the AgriInvest accounts. B.C. producers have access to almost $61 million through these accounts. On average, that's about $20,000 per producer. Producers can apply for this money at any time.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

I am particularly interested in the first part of your response. I am pleased to hear that you have raised the threshold for interim payments to 75%.

To what extent are producers taking advantage of this? Do you have any data on that?

What is the number of producers who have received money so far?

[Francesco Del Bianco]

In British Columbia, the program is administered by the province. This morning, I was given the confirmation that 46 producers have applied for enrolment, and 43 have applied for interim payments. In addition, 122 producers have applied for late entry into the program.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Do we know if there are people who need money but don't qualify for these programs?

At the end of his remarks, Mr. Vis wanted to make sure that producers who were not previously enrolled in AgriStability, and therefore could not access it, had the opportunity to enrol anyway. I think you mentioned that in your opening remarks.

[Francesco Del Bianco]

Yes.

As part of the recent agreements with the provinces, we have put in place a measure called late participation. Under this measure, if the Government of Canada and the provincial government decide to remove the requirement of previous enrolment in the program, producers who were not enrolled can enrol after the deadline. That's what we did. So producers can enrol in AgriStability for 2021, even if they were not previously enrolled.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you. That is reassuring news.

You mentioned the AgriInvest program. During the COVID‑19-related crisis, we talked about it often with Minister Bibeau and other stakeholders. We were told that there was a certain amount of money per farm in this program.

I don't mean this unkindly, but everyone knows that not all farms receive money. Setting an average per producer seems like a somewhat simplistic calculation for those producers who are struggling at the moment and don't have access to these funds.

AgriInvest can also be used for longer-term programs to adjust for what is considered a minor income change. Here we are talking about something major. I'm not going to tell you what you should do, but I would suggest that you not use this simplistic calculation for AgriInvest.

That said, Mr. Del Bianco, I see your dedication to producers, and we are all very grateful for that. I also thank you for your testimony.

I wanted to make that comment, because I think it is important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

I'm sorry, Mr. Perron, but I have to interrupt you. Your speaking time is up.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

All right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much.

Mr. MacGregor, you now have the floor for six minutes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

As a resident of British Columbia, I want to thank all of our witnesses for coming before our committee today and providing an overview of how things have gone.

I'll start with Mr. Hoffort from Farm Credit Canada. First of all, I appreciate your giving producers some leeway with their financial obligations. It's nice to see the kind of flexibility that you were so quick to put on offer for those who are going through extremely tough times.

Looking at your authorizing federal statute, the Farm Credit Canada Act, and given that we're probably going to see many more instances of climate-related disasters hitting our agricultural sector, do you feel that the current structure of the act gives Farm Credit Canada the appropriate amount of latitude to deal with what will be coming our way in future years?

[Michael Hoffort]

In response, I would say that in the current statute we operate within, there are some other responsibilities that can be assigned to Farm Credit Canada through the direction of the minister as well. From a financing perspective, being able to have sustainable financing is something we'll continue to look to build out from an offer perspective. Being able to create a structure of loans that has more flexibility to address some of these types of circumstances that it seems we're going to be faced with—I think that's well within our act. From a knowledge perspective, being able to bring knowledge and advisories is well within our abilities. We have some other offers as they relate to a software tool, which I think could be part of some of the tracking and data collection that will be necessary on farms. That's well within our current statute.

I would say that it wouldn't be something that would hold us back from responding appropriately—based on what we know right now, anyway.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I appreciate that answer. Thank you.

To Mr. Del Bianco from AAFC, looking at business risk management programs, and given the fact that we will probably be seeing far more climate-related disasters hitting the agricultural sector, has your department done any kind of forecasting or financial analysis on our liabilities in future years, given our agricultural sector? I mean, just look at what happened in British Columbia last year from wildfires and flooding. Other parts of Canada are going to be at risk as well.

Do you have anything you can provide to the committee about what kind of financial analysis or projection you're doing on what our future liabilities may be that are associated with climate-related disasters? This would be specific to the agriculture sector, please.

[Francesco Del Bianco]

Actually, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is the only department within the core public service that has a team of actuaries. Our chief actuary is a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. They are doing some modelling in terms of the potential impacts of climate change. The sense is that the events will be more frequent and the variations will be more extreme.

We don't have any actual translation of how that would play out in terms of increasing the financial impacts at this point in time, but we are looking at, for example, modelling related to AgriInsurance. The federal government's role right now is to ensure that premiums are actuarially sound, so that the premiums we charge producers represent the indemnities paid. The provinces subsidize the premium rate. The premiums are actually based on historical performance, not on a forecast or the future. We're starting to look at whether there is a potentially better way to estimate what the premiums should be, based on climate scenarios versus historical performance.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Del Bianco, does your department play any role in working with other federal departments and with provincial governments in conducting an analysis of how our farm infrastructure is currently equipped to deal with climate disasters? Is anyone conducting a wholesale analysis of the state of our infrastructure as it relates to agriculture and its ability to withstand some of these major events?

I mean, we saw what happened with some of our major transportation corridors that a lot of agricultural goods travel on. We saw problems with dikes in the Fraser Valley, etc. Perhaps you could provide some feedback on that, please.

[Francesco Del Bianco]

From a business risk management perspective, and in particular an AgriRecovery initiative, right now the federal and provincial governments are focused on the immediate impacts and providing support to producers so that they can resume their operations as quickly as possible. But there is the committee, referenced earlier, between the federal and British Columbia governments working with first nations—