Finance committee  Each province has its own agriculture minister. Federally, we have Minister Ritz, but each province has its own agricultural minister. At the federal-provincial meeting, which has just passed, each province brought its own unique set of issues to the federal government. I think t

Finance committee  The federal programs are national programs. Farming out west, where Mr. Menzies comes from, is very different from that in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia. Canada is such a vast country that a single farm program cannot respond to the needs of all provinces. With re

Finance committee  We're suggesting a re-profiling. That $500-million fund is geared toward new technology and innovative ideas. It doesn't include any business risk management type of programming. Our proposal the year before the last election included a business risk management component in that

Finance committee  So by becoming a full partner in flexible, regional-focused programs like Ontario's RMP and Quebec's ASRA, we can help the federal government save money it currently spends on ad hoc emergency aid—about $1 billion a year. Farmers across Canada continue to be extremely frustrated

Finance committee  Our coalition, in collaboration with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, has designed a program that will meet the needs of flexible regional programming and fit seamlessly into the Growing Forward initiative. We are here today to urge the government to implement a regional

Finance committee  And in Ontario, it could be used to fund a very successful grains and oilseeds risk management program. This program has been used by over 12,000 farms of all sizes in a successful way to ensure against price volatility in the grain markets. Recently, at the end of July 2010, O

Finance committee  In Ontario we have benefited from the Risk Management Program, RMP, and in Quebec from the Programme d'assurance stabilisation des revenus agricoles, ASRA. We started talking and realized that our needs were similar. Thus, we worked together to establish a federal program, which

Finance committee  AgriFlex does not provide funds to sectors in need in a given period. We are not asking the federal government to spend more money but to spend it in those sectors that need it at present. You spend about $1.53 billion per year. We are asking for this $1.53 billion to be distribu

Finance committee  Exactly.

Finance committee  Chairman Rajotte and finance committee members, thank you for the opportunity to present to the pre-budget consultations. William and I are members of the Ontario-Quebec Grain Farmers’ Coalition. We represent 41,000 farmers from Windsor, Ontario, to Rimouski, Quebec. In the co