Madam Speaker, the changes the government has introduced to the AIDA program will benefit many producers across the country.
We will now be covering negative margins. Negative margins occur when a farm has a particularly bad year and the operation has insufficient revenues to cover variable costs like fuel, machinery repair and chemicals. These due dollars will go to those farm families that need help to cover their variable costs.
What will also help farmers to get through these tough times is that they now have the option to make a one-time choice in 1999 of the reference period on which the payment calculation for AIDA is based. They will be able to choose either the previous three years or three of the previous five years where the high and low income years are not counted.
This will be a real help to farmers as they will not need to count a low income year they may have had due to flooding, drought, or some other occurrence beyond their control. This will provide better stability and more effective support to those farmers who find themselves in this type of situation.
As well, we are committed to having all processing of the AIDA claims completed by Christmas in provinces where the federal government delivers the program, as is the case in Manitoba.
As of today, November 25, the total value of AIDA payments in Manitoba is $33.7 million. These program changes and the total amount of money to be paid out by Christmas will help the farmers get through the tough times the hon. member referred to.