Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise in the House this evening to speak to this issue.
As the member opposite knows, this government and this minister are committed to putting farmers first. The government is working closely with our partners in the livestock sector and with provincial and territorial leaders to resolve the difficulties facing Canadian livestock producers.
Shortly after forming government, we sat down with industry and producers and asked for their input on fixing Canada's national farm programs. As members can see, unlike previous Liberal governments, this government develops farm programs based on what farmers want and need. The result of those consultations with farmers was the “Growing Forward” document. Through these programs, money is flowing right now to producers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced a $600 million kickstart to seed the new AgriInvest accounts. That is brand new money for our agricultural sector. That money is flowing toward cattle and hog sectors as we speak.
Furthermore, we have worked with provinces to accelerate access to targeted advance payments and interim payments. We have also improved the advance payments program, making an additional $1 billion in loans available to livestock producers right across Canada.
Hog producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are already receiving targeted advance payments. Producers in other provinces are receiving interim payments. Together, these two program components have already resulted in payments of more than $85 million.
When we sat down with the members of the livestock sector, they requested that a number of features be included in AgriStability. These suggestions included: broader eligibility criteria for negative margin coverage; the targeted advance payment, TAP, mechanism to respond to disaster situations; and a better method of valuing inventories. We included these changes and they are helping to ensure the program is more responsive to losses in the livestock sector.
Let me give an example of how our aid is getting directly to farmers. From late 2007 through 2008, nearly $1.5 billion in cash payments is expected to flow to livestock producers through existing and new programs. This is in addition to the $1 billion in additional loans available to the livestock sector under the APP.
Additional government initiatives that are helping our livestock sector include: $51 million for improvements to the temporary foreign workers program to address labour availability in the processing sector; $76 million to combat the circovirus in the hog industry, with $25 million available in direct financial assistance for testing and vaccines; and $80 million provided to develop the infrastructure to dispose of specified risk materials from slaughtered animals.
This government is committed to putting farmers first.