It’s welcome news, but with a catch.
That’s how Delta South MLA and Liberal agriculture and food critic Ian Paton described the joint provincial and federal flood recovery program announced on Monday.
B.C. farmers who suffered extraordinary damages during November's devastating floods will have access to up to $228 million in federal-provincial government support to help their farms return to production and support British Columbia's food security and agricultural communities in the years ahead.
“Anytime as a farmer myself that government steps up with $228 million to help out farmers that have been effected by the floods is obviously a good thing. I’m happy to hear that, but the caveat of that is why did it take three months for this to take place?,” said Paton. “People are still not back in their houses, equipment can’t be used, so they are waiting for money to re-build and re-tool their farms, so it has been very slow happening.
“The NDP is pretty good at announcing funds for small businesses and how to collect money to get by, but they have always had a tough time getting money out the door…making things complicated, filling out forms, getting through the red tape. I’ll be interested three months from now to hear from farmers and asking them whether they received the money, how difficult was it to sign up and plead their case to get the money owed to them for their damages.”
Marie-Claude Bibeau, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Lana Popham, B.C.'s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, announced the Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program, which will be delivered by the Government of British Columbia and will leverage the federal government's AgriRecovery Framework and Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA).
The Canada-BC Flood Recovery Program for Food Security will help farmers who have incurred extraordinary expenses from uninsurable damages, such as:
* clean-up, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, water and waste systems; returning flood-impacted land and buildings to a safe environment for agricultural production;
* repair of uninsurable essential farm infrastructure, reasonable repair of on-farm structures such as livestock containment fences, and the rental of temporary production facilities drainage ditches and riprap;
* animal welfare; replacement feed as well as livestock transportation, veterinary care and mortality disposal; and
* loss of perennial plants not raised for resale.
“The November flooding was the most impactful agricultural disaster ever in our province, resulting in profound losses for many B.C. farmers and food producers, and we're responding with a program that delivers the greatest amount of support of its kind in B.C.'s history,” said Popham. “We've worked closely with farmers and farming organizations to make sure we have a comprehensive response that will support their recovery, help them get their farms back in production, and continue our collective efforts to build a resilient food system and food economy in B.C.”
