Thursday, February 3, 2005

Ottawa – Jay Hill, Official Opposition House Leader and Member of Parliament for Prince George-Peace River, joined Conservative MPs in the House of Commons today in urging the federal government to provide immediate relief to Canadian agricultural producers by dropping the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program cash deposit required to trigger CAIS payments.

The motion was tabled by Conservative Party Agriculture Critic Diane Finley “in light of the numerous recent disasters affecting agricultural communities across Canada and the government’s failure to deliver timely financial relief to struggling farmers.”

“The CAIS program itself is widely acknowledged as being unnecessarily complicated and cumbersome on already struggling producers. Yet the CAIS cash deposit requirement actually adds to farmers’ financial pressures,” said Hill. “Plus, the farmers who need CAIS payments the most are the ones who can’t afford the large cash deposits required to get them.”

The motion was brought forward by Ms. Finley after research and extensive consultations with producers across Canada indicated that eliminating the cash deposit requirement would literally save producers millions of dollars each year, while providing immediate relief at a time when it is needed most.

During debate on the Conservative motion, Hill told the House of Commons, “I hear it all the time from the agricultural industry in Prince George-Peace River that if we do not do something – and I implore the government and the Minister of Agriculture today – for these people who are the backbone of rural Canada, we will not have an agricultural industry in the very near future.”

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For more information, please contact:
Jay Hill, M.P. (613) 947-4524 or (250) 787-119