Federal agriculture minister Bob Speller insists that the new Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program is the best deal Canadian farmers have ever had, but by late April farmers still were not rushing to join.
“CAIS is definitely better than anything we’ve had before,” Speller told the House of Commons agriculture committee in late April.
“It helps farmers cover large and small fluctuations in income, it provides disaster coverage and, in particular, it helps beginning farmers who represent the future of our sector because they can access the program immediately with just one-third of a deposit. They don’t have to wait for years to build up an account.”
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But by April 22, only 25 percent of eligible farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba had signed on and deposited money for 2003 claims, months after the program took effect.
Speller is trying to entice more farmers into the program by extending the initial deposit deadline to June 30 for the 2003 tax year. The new deadline for filing CAIS supplementary forms is Sept. 30.
Last minute rush
Senior Agriculture Canada officials told MPs that the slim sign-up numbers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba- approximately 20,000 farmers – are typical.
“We should keep in mind, and we’ve seen it with all our programs, that producers tend to come in right around the deadline,” said Danny Foster, senior adviser in the department’s farm financial programs branch.
“Sixty percent or 70 percent of applications or signups happen right around the deadline.”
Conservative agriculture critic Gerry Ritz wasn’t buying the logic.
He told the officials most of the farmers who will join the program already have.
“The problem is that the 20 percent to 25 percent who have applied are folks that think they can trigger some money,” he said.
“They have run the numbers with their accountants. The others are the folks who aren’t going to trigger anything so they are not buying in. You will never get them under these rules.”
Ritz noted Speller’s promise to review CAIS in 2004 but added results will be at least two years in the making.
“You are going to lose a whole sector of farmers, that other 75 percent,” Ritz said.
“You are going to lose them in the next two years or however long it takes to put the review mechanism in place with the new formula.”
Because of skepticism like that, Speller said he plans to make a report to Parliament every three months on how the program is working.
“It is my intention to provide quarterly updates so there’s no question about whether or not these programs are working and the money is getting out to the producers,” he said.
“This committee will have an opportunity to see on a quarterly basis exactly what’s going out to farmers.”
