Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex who, if nothing else, is a persistent supporter of agriculture in this country, especially agriculture in her riding. It gives me great pleasure to expand on my answer of March 23 to the question she posed on that date.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food has worked very hard with his provincial counterparts and the industry. He has announced a tentative agreement with all 10 provinces on a long term safety net plan. This will provide producers across Canada with the stability they need to thrive. The work before all governments now is to iron out the details of the agreement including the details of a disaster program.
The Government of Canada is pleased that an agreement has been achieved that provides for a three year farm income framework. We are confident that the plan will be ratified by each of the provinces as soon as possible. They have each committed to seek the authorities they need from their respective cabinets and provincial legislatures.
The tentative agreement provides annual federal funding of $665 million for basic safety net programs and access to $435 million in income disaster assistance in each of the next three years. When the agreement is finalized the federal commitment to safety net funding will be more than $3.3 billion for the next three years.