Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate today and to provide some of the details of the government's response to the serious financial situation facing many Canadian farmers today.
I do not want to diminish or underestimate the level of the crisis for a number of producers in Canada today, but I do want to say as well that overall our agriculture and agrifood sector is strong. It is and will continue to make a major contribution to the Canadian economy.
This past year, however, has not been easy for many producers. We understand that very fully. They have been struggling against a number of things. They have been struggling against low commodity prices that are in effect around the world. They have been struggling because of the fallout of the Asian economy and some of the markets that have been lost there. They have been struggling because of those reduced markets. They have been struggling because of excessive moisture in some cases and in others lack of moisture in certain parts of the country. All these issues have combined to have a serious impact on the economies of many producers, particularly those in the grain, oilseed and hog industries.
However under the government's leadership, and with the co-operation of the provincial governments and farm organizations, we have come together to respond to the situation.
I remind the House and Canadians again that about a year ago the hon. member for Brandon—Souris and his party were recommending that the government should come to the assistance of Canadian farmers to the extent of $276 million, I believe it was. I remind the House that the government has come to the assistance of producers in a number of ways, one of which has been $1.07 billion or close to $1.1 billion to assist producers, which is just about four times what the hon. member's party said it would give. Thank goodness it is not in power, but I think we understand why.
Those members can say all they want, but I remind everybody of the situation in 1993 when their party ended its reign of terror and left Canada taking in $120 billion a year and spending $162 billion a year, the largest single deficit in the history of Canada. We were for all technical purposes bankrupt because of nine years in which they were in power, adding to a situation they took over but a situation they promised Canadians they would fix but only made considerably worse.
The member for West Nova made reference to the fact that farmers in Nova Scotia had been suffering from drought for two or three years. Shortly after I became minister I reminded the producers and the government there that a crop insurance program needed to be in place to assist in the forage industry, for example. They did not do that when they had the first drought. They did not do that when they had the second drought. Now they are working on it and I praise them for it. They have now had three years of experience in that regard. It shows a lack of understanding by hon. members in that some of these matters are under the control of the provinces, and I assume the hon. member is encouraging the provincial government in that province.
The member for Brandon—Souris also made comments with reference to GRIP. GRIP was not all bad and was not all good, but I ask him to ask some of the provinces like the province of Saskatchewan why they cancelled GRIP. This is one of the reasons, and not the only one, that a number of farmers in Saskatchewan are in very grave difficulty. Other provinces kept a portion or a GRIP-type program which has been working very well for them.
In February of this year our government moved to aid Canadian farmers by putting in place the agriculture income disaster program. That program is funded 60% by the federal government and 40% by the provincial government. The first announcement on the program will support Canadian farmers with contributions to the extent of $1.5 billion in addition to the $1 billion per year in safety net programs already in place. That took place after extensive consultations with the National Safety Nets Advisory Committee made up of representatives of all major farm commodities. That announcement was made last year.
In early November of this year we made an additional announcement of another $170 million from the 60% federal portion. We made some further changes to assist, to deepen and to broaden the coverage of the program, bringing the total federal support close to $1.1 billion.
We are encouraging the provinces to join in the standard 60:40 support to the program. That has taken place over the years and has become accepted by everyone. We are telling the provinces that if they do not wish to put it forward to support the aid program they can do it with equivalent measures. We presume and expect that relationship will continue.
I admit the AIDA program may not be perfect but it has proven to help many Canadian farmers withstand the crisis they are facing. Over 51,000 applications have been received. More than $370 million have been paid out so far for 1998.
I assure the House and Canadian farmers that the total money will be paid out. We have made changes to ensure that. If necessary, we will continue to make changes to the program to ensure that. I do know and admit that the money did not flow as quickly as we all would like it to. There are applications which have to take place so that we can direct the money to those who need it. I also assure members that in the very near future the remainder of the money for 1998 will be paid out.
For example, in Saskatchewan to date over 8,000 farmers have received over $80 million. I should add that if the province agrees to participate in covering the changes that we made recently to negative margins, over the two years of the program our estimates are that it will move to about $585 million to assist producers in the province of Saskatchewan alone.
I should also mention other changes we have made in response to the comments of the safety nets advisory committee. They include changes to the reference period, to how we treat family labour, to the choice of accounting system and I could go on. We have also made changes to the advance payments so that farmers can, at this time, apply for 60% of their anticipated requirement for 1999 so that we can get them more cash to help them.
This past summer we made access easier and faster to crop insurance. We made changes to the NISA program so that withdrawals from and deposits to are improved. As a result, over 41,000 more Canadian farmers have access to that fund, and I could go on. That made available another $117 million.
I remind everyone that there are still, for example, in the province of Saskatchewan, over 26,000 farmers who have triggered withdrawals from the NISA program as a result of their 1998 business year, and there is over $280 million still available. I encourage them to participate in that program.
I could go on but I will sum up by saying that we have continued and we will continue to support our farmers with effective and flexible safety nets. We will continue to work with them and for them to find additional ways to support and strengthen rural agricultural Canada and rural Canada in general.
We will continue the dialogue with the provinces and the farm groups. We will be working with them to put in place a longer term agricultural disaster assistance program, one that will work effectively and invaluably with the NISA program, crop insurance program and all other programs at the present time. I am confident that we can work with the sector to strengthen and improve the agriculture in rural Canada.