Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a pleasure to be here today. Those of us who live on Prince Edward Island think we live on one of the world's great islands, and a lot of people who visit us each year think so as well, and they come for the beauty of the landscape as well as the b

Finance committee  And we are working on an Atlantic brand as well now. That's being developed, and it's something that the region has worked on cooperatively. It's the only federal beef plant we have in the Maritimes, and the three maritime provinces have worked cooperatively on that as well. So t

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank the standing committee for an invitation to present. This being your last province to present to you, I think you've probably heard it all before. I was always one to believe that the more times you hear something, at the end of the da

Agriculture committee  I think you mentioned AgriStability, and I think that's a big concern. I expect you've heard all across Canada that the programs aren't working. Our provincial minister wants everybody to be involved in that program. We have 87% or 89% of our farmers involved in the program now.

Agriculture committee  In your comment you were talking about leveling the playing field there. As I understand it, 40% of the food we eat now is imported. I was recently at a meeting in Moncton. There were discussions on trade negotiations and there were a couple of civil servants from Ottawa talking

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear before your committee. I'm here today to express the concerns of livestock producers in my province, Prince Edward Island, concerning the proposed repayment of the advance payment loans. First, I'd like to say that the ad

Agriculture committee  Most of our agriculture industry is based on potato production in P.E.I., and most of those producers have advance payments. As you said, we do have a lot of multi-commodity producers, so I think the impact would be quite substantial. A lot of those producers are using the advanc

Agriculture committee  Especially when all commodities are struggling. There are no commodities we deal with that are really flourishing, including potatoes.

Agriculture committee  No.

Agriculture committee  Actually, I think they've become worse since he said that, especially in the livestock sector.

Agriculture committee  Prior to 2008, when I secured an advance payment loan, I had to get a priority agreement from my bank. When the government announced the severe economic hardship advances in 2008, you didn't require that agreement for your regular advance payment program. Now, for the producers w

Agriculture committee  They won't be allowed to get an advance payment program and they won't be allowed to roll over their present severe economic hardship money into another loan. They would have to have that priority agreement.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I think it was our understanding as well that there would be no penalty. The penalty that was originally stated would have been more than it is. I think the minister has reduced the penalty from what it previously was, so that's a help. But getting back to the repayment, it

Agriculture committee  That's the real concern we have. Ten months is not a reasonable timeframe to pay your money back. You commented that you were concerned about the other taxpayers in Canada, about subsidizing agriculture, but when you think about it, I think the government is going to lose more un

Agriculture committee  I would think a minimum of five years.