Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Madam Ministers, thank you so much for being here.
Minister Bibeau, last week a spokesperson for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada told the CBC that the federal government is developing a new aid package for the ag sector, with an announcement expected extremely soon.
We recognize that we have situations where animal health is becoming a problem. We've seen the things that have happened in nurseries, where there are problems getting bedding plants out in the springtime. We have also seen massive investments in such things as tulips, and so on, and people are having to hang onto these things. Of course, grain farmers, especially out in our neck of the woods, are still trying to finish off last year's crop before they start putting in this year's crop.
Farmers need some assurances that they can plant their crops this spring or send their livestock to market and that the COVID-type stressors have been recognized and are being compensated for. They can't wait for things to roll out at normal government speed.
Really, the key thing is this: Can you tell farmers today that this so-called new aid package that was announced is going to come here in the next two weeks and that it's going to have some meaningful measures to assist this vital sector of the economy?
In addition to that, as far as business risk management is concerned, we know that AgriRecovery is something that might be considered, but is the federal government going to be taking the lion's share of that cost?