Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Congratulations on your election to that chair. I know that it's a great job. It's one that I certainly look back on with fond memories. The cut and thrust of the committee is always well served and producers are well served by the great work that's done around this table. Congratulations on that.
With me today I have Pierre Corriveau, who of course is the expert on the supplementary estimates B and probably will be very busy fielding questions. I know that's what we're here for today.
Yaprak Baltacioglu is my deputy minister. If you have problems with her name, just call her Smitty.
Carole Swan is the president of CFIA, and of course with her is Stephen Baker. We have another supporting lineup: Dr. Brian Evans, chief veterinarian, and Cam Prince, in charge of programs at CFIA.
For any questions that I can't handle, I certainly have a great field of people behind me.
Thank you for the invitation to be with you here today and tell this austere committee about what the government is doing for Canadian farm families.
In the current global economy, Canada needs a strong, profitable agriculture industry now more than ever. That's why this government is taking a proactive approach to moving the sector forward. We are working with industry to build a stronger, more profitable agricultural sector here in Canada.
Farmers don't want to farm the mailbox; they want to earn a living from the marketplace, as we all know. We're getting out on the world stage to open doors for our producers so they can make deals that will make a difference at their farm gates.
Today's business-minded producers refuse to stay in the same old rut. Their business plans are based on the opportunities they see out there.
Our economic action plan for Canada will make sure agriculture comes out of this current global situation stronger than it ever was. Through our action plan, we're building roads and bridges across Canada to create jobs in the short term and strengthen our communities for the long term. We're cutting taxes for families and businesses to make sure farmers have the cash in their pockets to keep our economy running strong.
We're getting the job done for Canadian farm families by moving forward to tap new marketing opportunities at home and around the world, build stable, bankable, predictable programs, and, of course, strengthen Canada's food safety system.
We're being proactive on food safety, Mr. Chairman. Our food safety action plan is ensuring that consumers have confidence in our standards, which are second to none. We are reinvesting in food safety after spending cuts through the nineties. We have invested $113 million to strengthen our food and product safety system. We've hired over 200 food safety inspection personnel and are hiring more every year. We're constantly reviewing our food safety regulatory systems and improving our procedures.
Budget 2009 allocated $250 million to improve our federal labs. These labs, long ignored by previous governments, are key links in Canada's health and food safety systems.
We've initiated an independent investigation into last summer's recall to find ways to strengthen the system even more. We welcome the appointment of Sheila Weatherill, a very qualified lead investigator. We look forward to her recommendations as we continue to strengthen Canada's food safety system.
We're taking a proactive approach to agricultural programs. We listen to farmers as we develop these programs. We now have a suite of stable, bankable programs to make sure farmers weather economic storms and continue to drive the Canadian economy.
AgriStability has significant improvements that were requested and welcomed by the farm community as we replaced CAIS. AgriStability delivers where CAIS failed, with coverage for negative margins, targeted advanced payments, inventory evaluation, which covers both the beginning and the end of the year, interim payments, deadline flexibilities, and online tools that allow farmers to spend less time filling out paperwork.
AgriInvest is a responsive, predictable, and bankable addition. Producers can trigger the money to cover a drop in margin, or they can use the money to invest directly in their on-farm operations. That's responsive, Mr. Chairman.
AgriInvest makes it easy to predict the government contribution each year. That's predictable and bankable. We invested $600 million to kickstart the AgriInvest program.
We introduced Canada's first ever program to allow federal and provincial governments to provide rapid assistance when farmers are hit by regional national disasters. AgriRecovery has already been successfully applied. A few examples would be potato coverage in Prince Edward Island and Quebec, flood damage in Manitoba's Interlake region, tuberculosis in central B.C., and other situations that have arisen across this country.
We continue to work with livestock producers, who still face challenges. The new business risk management programs are delivering more than one billion dollars to livestock producers. We extended emergency cash advances of up to $400,000 with the first $100,000 interest-free. That's delivered another half a billion dollars in cashflow directly to the farm gate.
Working with producers, I announced a stay of default on that particular program for the next 18 months. That gives them a long-term viability as they face the challenges that they do. That stay covers almost a half a billion dollars in advances to the livestock sector. That will stay with them.
As you know, credit is tight for Canadian producers, livestock being no exception. By giving them extra time to repay these advances, we're making sure they have the time they need to get back on their feet. The government will continue to pay the interest on the first $100,000 of these advances and there will be no penalty attached. Livestock producers told us these measures are on the right track.
The president of the Canadian Pork Council, Jurgen Preugschas, said, and I quote, “We are pleased that the government recognizes the financial difficulties hog producers are experiencing”.
Ron Bonnett of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture said, “We want to thank Minister Ritz for listening to the concerns of farmers and providing the repayment flexibility essential for the industry to emerge as a strong global participant.”
Farm support programs make sure farmers can weather the storms, but the long-term viability of the sector depends on our ability to get out there and sell Canadian agriculture on the world stage. Everywhere I go in the world, people want the safe, high-quality foods that Canadian producers are famous for.
Working with industry, we launched the Market Access Secretariat to aggressively and proactively go after new markets and keep pace with our international competitors. Growing Forward makes sure Canadian farmers have a firm foundation behind them, and it's creating the opportunities they need to succeed over the short and long term.
Governments are investing over $1.3 billion over five years in Growing Forward programs. That's $300 million more than the agriculture policy framework delivered on the same framework. Growing Forward is a recognition that every farm is unique, and that the one-size-fits-all approach is no longer workable or acceptable. We have responded under the Growing Forward model by providing much greater potential for tailoring programming to regional needs. Flexibility is a key element of Growing Forward, because that's the best way to make sure every investment hits the target at the farm gate.
The budget makes a similar proactive approach to responding to the emerging needs of the sector. As a government, we are not afraid to work with farmers to redirect money that is not hitting the target. One example, of course, is the cost-of-production program. It simply did not trigger effectively or efficiently. With the new Growing Forward sweep, cost to production is factored into a wide range of farm support programs. That's why we're reinvesting that money in key priorities for Canadian farm families.
We're also looking to the future to help young farmers get established in this great business. We're moving forward on changes to the farm improvement and marketing cooperatives loan, or FIMCL, as it's better known. These changes will make it easier for new farmers to get the credit they need to get started in their new operations. We're investing $500 million in the agricultural flexibility program. A recent survey of 4,300 producers by Farm Credit Canada shows that one in four farmers is planning to expand. That's great news for the future of this vibrant industry. Agricultural flexibility will help farmers by helping them grow their business, manage risk, adopt sustainable practices, capture new market opportunities, and of course, commercialize the great ideas designed in the farm shops over the winter. We continue to work with industry and provincial governments to get these programs to producers.
We're also getting out in front of our competition on world markets. My top priority this year is to get a foot in the door with our key customers, as well as build new markets for our farmers. As is often said, and it bears repeating, farmers don't want to farm the mailbox, farmers want to make their money from a vibrant marketplace.
This government is opening and expanding markets so that our farmers can sell more products to more customers around the world. We've had significant wins in the United States, in Russia, and in Mexico. Over the past few weeks, we've reopened beef access in Hong Kong and Jordan, and worked to expand pulse and canola markets in burgeoning markets like India. We will keep up the pressure, Mr. Chairman. We're making sure we have the capacity to meet this new demand by investing $50 million in slaughter and processing capacity. That funding will fill gaps in jurisdictions such as Manitoba that have no federally inspected slaughter plants.
Next week I'm planning to travel to the Middle East to open more markets for our beef producers over there. We're also continuing to plan trade missions to Japan, Korea, and China. We'll be back to the U.S. and back to Mexico to expand on what we've started, Mr. Chair. Of course, we'll continue to build a respectful relationship with our biggest trading partner south of the border.
A week ago I spoke with the new administration's Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. We agreed it's vitally important to make sure our integrated North American livestock continues to move smoothly across our borders. Every time we resolve a trade irritant or expand a market, we're adding to the bottom line for Canadian farmers. We're making sure our producers can continue to drive the economy, as we all weather the current global economic uncertainty.
To close, Mr. Chair, I want to work with the industry, provinces, and territories, and of course this committee, to help build a base for producers to grow and prosper. I want to work with this committee on amendments to the Canada Grain Act, which we intend to reintroduce very soon this session.
On this, and a whole range of issues, we can and will work together to help producers and the whole value chain to proactively capture new opportunities.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I look forward to your questions.