Question Period Note: Hurricane Fiona

What is the government doing to support producers affected by hurricane Fiona?

FIRST RESPONSE:

1. The Government of Canada stands with producers of Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.

2. Emergency federal support has been requested by the affected provinces (NS, PE, NL) and has been granted. The federal government has also sent the Canadian Armed Forces to help with the recovery process.

3. We are monitoring the impacts of Hurricane Fiona on the agricultural sector and will assess and respond to all requests for federal assistance from the affected provinces.

4. While we know this recovery will take time, the federal government will be there for farmers and the agricultural sector every step of the way.

SUPPORTING RESPONSES:

1. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has a suite of business risk management programs for producers that can provide support for events beyond their control.

2. We encourage producers to apply for interim payments under AgriStability and submit any claims under AgriInsurance.

3. Upon request from the provinces, it would be possible to increase the interim payments to up to 75% as well as invoke late participation to allow all producers to participate in AgriStability.

4. We will assess the situation to determine whether additional support would be required under AgriRecovery.
    

BACKGROUND:

On September 23-24, 2022, Hurricane Fiona passed through the Atlantic region as an intense post-tropical storm. Landfall was made as a category 2 strength Hurricane (maximum strength winds of up to 165km/hr) post-tropical cyclone between Canso and Guysborough, Nova Scotia (NS) between 3 am and 4 am Saturday morning.

The storm generated damaging winds, torrential rainfall, large waves, and destructive storm surge. The heavy rainfall caused flooding and washouts in some areas. Rainfall and wind was variable throughout the region with one area of Cape Breton receiving up to 179km/hr wind gust and unofficial reports of more than 200mm of rain in Antigonish, NS.

Power outages were seen across the region, with 400,000 without power during the storm in Nova Scotia at one point. Nova Scotia Power is still working to restore power with over 180,000 customers still affected by outages. Most of PEI was without power at the height of the storm with 79,000 customers still without electricity Monday morning.

Agriculture damages reported up to now mainly affect crops (Apple trees, grapes, maple trees, corn and soybean). There are structural damages to livetock barns, grain elevators and other farm structures, particularly in NS and PEI. There have also been reports of milk being dumped, no details on volume.

BUSINESS RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

Business risk management (BRM) programs are joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) programs that are in place to help producers manage risks that threaten the viability of their farms, and provide protection against different types of income and production losses. Producers take responsibility for managing normal risks, while government support is in place to help manage events that exceed producers’ capacity to manage.

The programs are cost-shared 60:40 (Federal:Provincial-Territorial) as outlined in the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, and have provided over $1.6 billion per year to producers over the last five years.

The AgriStability program is a whole-farm program designed to support producers who have experienced a net income decline of more than 30 percent for reasons such as production loss, increased costs and market conditions. Government spending for AgriStability has varied based on these market conditions, averaging about $345 million per year. It is anticipated that AgriStability payments for the 2021 program year will exceed $600 million if current program parameters and market conditions continue.

The AgriInvest program allows producers to save a portion of the proceeds from their annual net sales, with a matching government contribution up to a maximum of $10,000 annually, to help manage smaller income declines. FPT governments contribute approximately $275 million annually to AgriInvest accounts. The AgriInsurance program helps to stabilize producer income by minimizing the economic effects of production losses caused by severe but uncontrollable natural hazards. It provides support largely to crop producers, averaging over $1 billion per year since 2013, which represents approximately two-thirds of all BRM contributions.
 

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