Prince Edward Island Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kevin MacAdam announced today that producers will be receiving the full payments under the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program. Mr. MacAdam confirmed the provincial government will continue to pay its full share under the program, which is financed on a 60/40 basis with the federal government .
“Producers who make application under the CAIS program for support payment for 2004 will receive the full payment for which they are eligible,” said Mr. MacAdam. “At no time did the provincial government ever consider reducing the payment as a budgetary reduction measure. We are committed to supporting producers who face financial difficulties because of circumstance beyond their control.”
Mr. MacAdam said that already, the department has processed more than $2 million in payments to producers for the 2004 year. This is a significant improvement over last year when there were delays in processing payments because the CAIS program was new and producers had to provide detailed information on their applications.
Last year, the provincial government paid out more than $10 million in support payments to producers, which accounted for approximately one-third of the department’s budget. “I can assure all producers that the provincial government will continue to fully honour its commitments under the program,” said Mr. MacAdam.
He said that federal, provincial and territorial ministers will be discussing ways to strengthen the CAIS program during their upcoming annual conference in July.