Archive for April, 2006

Well after a few months away from column writing, welcome to the return of my MP Report. (Welcome to those of you who are new to the column as well!)

I want to thank everyone who voted in the election, I appreciate the support I received and I plan to continue to represent the riding in government in the same fashion as I did in opposition.

CAIS: CAIS alone is the one program that causes my office more grief than just about any other program combined. It is bureaucratic, ineffective, slow and complicated. I dislike it as much as any farmer who is frustrated with the program. How poorly run is the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization Program? Let me illustrate with a story:

One farmer who was working through an MP office had so many delays and hassles that he put in a request to see his file through the Access to Information Act. When his file came back it was 16,000 (yes, sixteen thousand) pages long. Now, granted, he had a big farm, but one does wonder what it costs just to do the paperwork on a file that large.

CAIS needs to be scrapped and replaced with a new program that is simpler, less complicated and doesn’t exclude farmers in need. It’s one of the projects I’ve been working hardest on. It can’t be done soon enough for me.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament, and I welcome your feedback. Write or call my offices.