CFA Member News – CFA-FCA

AgGrowth Coalition discusses BRM Review Engagement with Deputy Minister

cfaadmin — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:23:05 +0000

On Wednesday, September 5th, CFA staff joined other AgGrowth Coalition representatives in a meeting with AAFC Deputy Minister Chris Forbes and other senior officials to discuss the status of the Business Risk Management Review and highlight the need for continued industry engagement in the process.

AgGrowth representatives highlighted the positive developments that came about from the external advisory panel’s work and noted the need to ensure strong communication was maintained between industry associations and all orders of government. AAFC officials noted that a work plan was under development, outlining the department’s plans to continue work on the panel’s recommendations and relevant industry engagement, which will be shared with CFA and other associations later in September.

The AgriRisk Initiatives program and its relationship to the BRM review was also discussed, noting that the program provided an opportunity for industry to explore potential top-up/pilot programs and to work with provincial governments to see these pilots implemented quickly. The coalition will be meeting on Thursday, September 6th to discuss plans for the next year and CFA will provide an update on the coalition in the next CFA in Action.

For more information on the BRM review and the AgGrowth Coalition, please contact Scott Ross.

CFA provides feedback to TBS on regulatory irritants

cfaadmin — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:17:50 +0000

CFA made a submission to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) as part of their ongoing regulatory review of the agri-food and aquaculture sectors, highlighting regulatory irritants in 7 areas:

Science-based PMRA evaluations and re-evaluations
Bill C-68 & the need for streamlined regulations
Qualifying farming fuels in the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
A Modernized regulatory framework for plant breeding innovations
Canadian agri-food’s labour shortages
Proposed Front-of-Pack (FOP) labelling review
Interprovincial regulatory harmonization

See our submission for further details on each irritant and CFA’s proposed solutions.

We will build on our pre-budget ask to see this regulatory review enhanced to address the cumulative burden of regulatory irritants. We’ll also suggest to look at international benchmarking to identify best practices.

For more information on the TSB regulatory review process, please contact Scott Ross.

CFA seeks member feedback on 2018 Livestock Tax Deferral

cfaadmin — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 16:22:43 +0000

Agriculture and Agri-food Canada announced on Sept. 14 that extreme weather conditions have caused feed shortfalls in several provinces, with AAFC designating regions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec as eligible for livestock tax deferral provision. AAFC released an initial list of these designated regions where livestock tax deferral has been authorized for 2018 due to drought or excess moisture conditions.

The livestock tax deferral provisions allow livestock producers in prescribed drought, flood or excess moisture regions to defer a portion of their 2018 sale proceeds of breeding livestock until 2019 to help replenish the herd. The cost of replacing the animals in 2019 will offset the deferred income, thereby reducing the tax burden associated with the original sale.Eligibility for the tax deferral is limited to those producers located inside the designated prescribed areas. Producers in those regions can request the tax deferral when filing their 2018 income tax returns.

CFA seeks feedback from members on whether the designated regions provide adequate relief for affected producers, as CFA has heard from a number of members that many affected producers fall outside the designated regions. If you wish to provide any information on this front, please email Scott Ross .