Agriculture Minister Kevin MacAdam today issued a statement defending his department’s administration of the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program. Last week, Liberal opposition MLA Ron MacKinley was critical of delays in processing applications.
“I want to assure all those who have made applications for assistance that the processing of applications is the number one priority of the department at this time,” said Mr. MacAdam. “Staff of the department are working hard to ensure that funds are in producers’ hands as soon as possible.”
Mr. MacAdam said that the department has reallocated staff of the department to work full-time at processing applications. The number of staff now involved has gone from two at the beginning of the program to 14 today. He said they are working one-on-one with producers to obtain and verify the information they need to make payments.
Close to one-third of the roughly 950 applications have now been fully processed, with total payments of close to $5.0 million. The remaining applications are being processed in the order in which they were received.
The minister outlined a number of reasons for the additional time and resources required to implement the program.
“First of all, at the request of the farm community, we did not actually sign on to the program until November of last year,” he said. “That meant a delay in its development and delivery.” The CAIS program is a federal-provincial initiative, and is administered by the provincial government according to federal guidelines.
Because of the complexity of the program, producers need to submit more detailed financial information, and delays in providing that information to the department are slowing down the processing of applications. The department held more than 35 information meetings earlier this year to explain the program and help prepare producers for submitting applications. Close to 70 percent of the applications were received just under the deadline, which led to a significant backlog.
“On top of all that, the past year has seen a major downturn in the hog, beef and potato sectors, and that has meant a major increase in the number of applications we are dealing with,” said Mr. MacAdam.
The minister also defended his department’s administration of the program. He said that the federal government is providing 60 percent of the administrative costs, with the provincial government responsible for the other 40 percent. Prince Edward Island is on par or better than other provinces in the rate of processing applications.
“We know that producers need access to payments and we are working hard in cooperation with them to process their applications as quickly as possible,” said Mr. MacAdam. “Because it is a new program, there are as well a number of growing pains which we are addressing to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.”
Mr. MacAdam said among the changes the province has achieved over the past year are the inclusion of negative margins. Other changes to improve its effectiveness have been implemented or are being actively considered.
“I want to assure all producers we are taking this matter very seriously,” said Mr. MacAdam. “I remain hopeful that as producers and staff work closely together to obtain the necessary information to complete the applications that payments can be issued as soon as possible.”