Agriculture Canada says its new farm safety net program is based on last year’s scathing auditor general report, which criticized the efficiency, transparency and fairness of the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program.
Deputy minister Yaprak Baltacioglu told MPs on the House of Commons public accounts committee April 1 that the department took those criticisms to heart and afeels the new AgriStability replacement, which was launched that day, is much better.
She said administration of the program will be more transparent and producers will be better informed about how their payout was calculated. The auditor general’s report looked at the 2004 and 2005 program years.
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“So things are dramatically different than they were back in 2004,” said Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brian Fitzpatrick.
“Would that be a fair comment?”
“I would say they are dramatically different,” Baltacioglu replied.
She told MPs that forms are simpler, information more accessible and reasons for payment calculations more transparent.
As well, the auditor general complaint that CAIS tried to retrieve overpayments but did not track underpayments has been corrected.
“We are learning from past experience and we are benefiting from the auditor general’s recommendations,” she said.
“We have revised our reviews to ensure that we include this group of payments (underpayments) in terms of our checks.”
Baltacioglu said the agriculture department has to balance its attempt to help farmers with its obligation to use tax dollars responsibly.
“It’s very important to note that in this area we always strive to strike the right balance between getting money out fast to farmers with putting in place checks and balances that will ensure good public administration, and the auditor general’s report has recognized the fine balance that we have to achieve,” she said.
Assistant auditor general Andrew Lennox told MPs that while the government says the new AgriStability program is different from and better than CAIS, it has the same principles and should be watched.
“We have not examined these programs,” he said.
“However, our understanding is that AgriStability is also a margin-based program for which program payments are based on similar eligibility criteria as the CAIS program, and applications are processed in a similar manner by the same organizations. Therefore, we believe that our concerns and recommendations largely remain intact.”
