AGRI Committee Report
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Dissenting Opinion – Conservative Party of Canada Nematode was discovered in the St-Amable area of Quebec in the fall of 2006, and in northern Alberta in 2007. Nematode is a serious risk to the international trade of commodities associated with soil, so every precaution must be taken to prevent the introduction and spread of this plant pest. Quarantine measures have been undertaken to contain and eventually suppress the pest. These measures have helped to restore market access for potatoes into the United States, which is a major market to Canada. In highly infested regions, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) restrictions are in place for decades as nematode is extremely difficult to eradicate. This is expected to be the case in St. Amable, as a result of the high the level of infestation (golden nematode) and the size of the area affected. The infestation is still under investigation in Alberta. Alberta: Canada has taken all actions necessary to comply fully with the U.S. import requirements for Alberta seed potatoes. CFIA has increased laboratory analysis to surge capacity and has completed the delimiting survey. In total, the CFIA, with the support of Canadian seed potato growers and other stakeholders, tested approximately 44 500 soil samples related to the 2008 survey. As a result, in Alberta (37 farmers) were able to resume export of seed potatoes to the U.S. in January, 2009. This does not include potatoes produced in the regulated areas (two farm units in Alberta associated with the potato cyst nematode (PCN) detections). Affected farmers have been compensated. In total, 39 farmers, including the two farms with infested fields, received $16M in federal-provincial assistance. The Government of Canada is working closely with the U.S. to revise the PCN guidelines, and hopes to reach agreement soon on the process for deregulating lands in Alberta. Québec: The federal government is working with the provincial government of Québec on the issue of compensation. Since the disaster, both governments have provided assistance to address extraordinary costs incurred by potato farmers such as potato disposal, cleaning and disinfection and immediate transition costs. These costs were covered under the Golden Nematode Disaster Program, in addition to assistance provided by the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program and the Plant Protection Act. Total government assistance related to the 2006 crop year amounted to $6.6 million. For the 2007 crop year, special provisions were implemented under AgriStability to maintain margins at their historic levels (potatoes, crops with higher margin per hectare) when they were mainly cultivating corn/soybeans (crops with lower margin per hectare). AgriStability payments were increased by $1.3 million due to this waiving. Governments also offered a final transition payment of $5M, which brings the total assistance for the 21 affected farms to up to $13M (average of $9700 per hectare, or average of $600,000 per farm). After significant analysis and discussions, both levels of governments have agreed that transition assistance is warranted to help these farms make the necessary changes to their farm operations. In February 2009, the program proposal for transition assistance, which was developed jointly by the federal and the Québec governments, was shared with potato farmers. This assistance will help them with the extraordinary costs related to the transition that are not covered by the existing programs. AgriRecovery, a framework for disaster relief that is part of business risk management programs under Growing Forward, allows federal and provincial governments to respond jointly in providing special assistance in the case of disasters. This assistance must complement the intervention programs in place, not replace them. In the case of the affected Québec farms, the affected lands are still able to produce crops and the federal and provincial governments initiative is aimed at assisting with transition. Therefore, AgriRecovery is not designed to compensate producers for future lost revenue because they can no longer grow potatoes. The program proposal consists of a transition payment which provides affected producers with the flexibility needed to undertake the most appropriate transition. Both levels of government have agreed on a 3-year transition period under AgriRecovery. The parameters of the proposed program take into account discussions held with all provincial governments to establish the basis on which this type of assistance should be offered under AgriRecovery. Governments looked at a transition model from potatoes to corn, including various issues such arable land and equipment and business services in order to make the transition. The proposed assistance provides significant support in helping affected farmers move forward. In her December 2008 report, the Auditor General offered her opinions on the effectiveness of CFIA in controlling plant pests like nematodes. She explained to the Committee that her report only deals peripherally with issues like nematode and mostly focuses on threats to Canada from international borders. CFIA has reviewed and agreed with the recommendations of the Auditor General in her report. Furthermore, CFIA has reconfirmed its commitment to implementing these recommendations in testimony to the committee. CFIA has begun to implement recommendations for an effective, integrated risk-management approach to plant and plant product imports. As import volumes continue to increase, the CFIA must continuously review and assess its science, policy and operational requirements as well as its information systems to update its approach to plant health. Therefore, the Conservative Party of Canada hereby submits the following recommendations:
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