May 5 – Today the federal Government announced a new multi-million-dollar, multi-part package aid package for farmers and food processors.
It is an “initial announcement”, being substantially less than the $2.6 billion emergency fund requested by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
- a new $77 million fund for food processors of varying size, including meat packers, to help businesses retrofit their factories and increase capacity to deal with the backlog of livestock that’s been building up in parts of the county
- aid money can be used to buy personal protective equipment for workers, adapt to health protocols and support other social distancing measures;
- aid money can also be used to make conditions safer for workers on the line, noting that occupational health and safety is a provincial issue; and
- an additional $125 million to the AgriRecovery fund, a federal-provincial-territorial program aimed at helping farmers during disasters.
