The federal ag minister made the statement during a press conference Friday
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The federal government is working out the final details of a financial compensation package for farmers in Canada’s supply managed sectors, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Marie-Claude Bibeau said today.
“We’re talking about distributing billions of dollars of public funds to thousands of producers across the country, so we have to do it right. I can tell you that we have a team who’s working on it to make it happen as soon as possible,” she said during a press conference in Quebec City, Que. on Friday.
The dairy, poultry and egg sectors each requested different kinds of compensation, which is partly why the process is taking longer than expected. But the government hopes to announce and implement the compensation before the election, Bibeau said.
She made the remarks at the end of the federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting, where several of Canada’s ag delegates spent two days discussing policy and ways to improve the nation’s ag industry.
Canada's Agriculture Ministers
The ag ministers talked about trade and continuing to work towards full market access in China for Canadian canola and meat.
Restoring trade with China is one of Canada’s main objectives, Bibeau said.
“We keep asking the Chinese officials to provide us with evidence of the (canola) pests they are telling us that they have found in our shipments, but we still haven’t got that type of information,” she said.
Officials have made progress on the Canadian meat imports issue but there hasn’t been much movement on the canola issue, she said.
The ministers also committed to review the suite of business risk management programs.
Though the Canadian Agricultural Partnership is only one-year-old, another meeting is planned for the fall to discuss potential changes to the AgriStability program that could be implemented in 2020.