Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing.
When a resident of Chatham-Kent—Leamington turns 100, we prepare a certificate, and I usually try to deliver that personally. I wasn't aware that our dairy standards were 100 years old, and I'm not sure if that's the same cause for celebration.
I'm going to begin with Mr. Duff.
You identified that Ontario's agriculture is very diverse, with over 200 commodities, and 180 that aren't necessarily fitting into some of the existing programs, at least not well. Broadly speaking, testimony at the committee has shown that AgriInsurance is largely supported where it does work well. Obviously most of the focus has been on AgriStability and the improvements that are required there. Let's begin with that.
Are there opportunities, again to get at some of those other 180 commodities, to improve the linkages between our tax filing systems and the capture of data? You also mentioned the importance of data and that we need to improve the programs. What are the opportunities there? As well, let's get to the three main criticisms: lack of acknowledgement of the diversification at farm level; timeliness of payments; and the coverage, moving basically from stabilization to disaster coverage as the coverage levels have been dropped.
Would improved data collection address some of those concerns and also allow the timeliness, particularly around farmers wanting to maintain cash filing when the AgriStability program works on an accrual basis? Can you address those concerns?