Mr. Speaker, I must say this question goes back to November 26, 1998. A lot of things have happened since the member asked the minister the question.
I have addressed the length of the application, which has been fairly well exaggerated. The amount of money is $900 million plus $600 million, $1.5 million federal-provincial, 60:40 cost shared because the jurisdiction is a shared jurisdiction.
As the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and his provincial colleagues announced after their meeting on February 23 and 24, Canadian farmers now avail themselves of comprehensive income disaster protection. Whatever commodity they produce in whatever province, agriculture producers will be eligible to receive government assistance if their gross margin falls below 70% of their three year average.
The spirit of federal-provincial co-operation and our sense of urgency, given the gravity of farm income difficulties, meant that the new agricultural income disaster assistance program was developed very quickly and expeditiously.
As of March 5, application forms were available in electronic format and in hard copy a week or so later. This is quite an achievement.
The national program will not be delivered in isolation of its existing instruments. AIDA is built on the substantial protection already offered by other safety nets, including NISA and crop insurance. The design and administration of AIDA includes several built-in incentives to take full advantage of the existing safety nets. This encourages farmers to get actively involved in the management of their own risks.
Similarly, the disaster program will be delivered in full respect of existing provincial initiatives. Where a provincial program decreases the cost of AIDA by enhancing producers' incomes, this will be taken into account. It was agreed that producers should not be compensated twice for the same income shortfall. Ways were found to accommodate and build on other initiatives with the same purpose as the national disaster program.
In closing, I am very satisfied with the progress that was made in such a short time. Farmers impressed upon us the urgency of the situation and the government has taken action.