Acts and Regulations

2011, c.156 - Farm Income Assurance Act

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Current to 1 January 2024
2011, c.156
Farm Income Assurance Act
Deposited May 13, 2011
Definitions
1The following definitions apply in this Act.
“board” means a farm income assurance board established by regulation.(commission)
“farm income plan” means a program, arrangement, proposal, plan, scheme, or similar measure, however described, that provides for the paying of moneys to, or guaranteeing or assuring of income for, the farmers or classes of farmers that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council designates.(régime de revenu agricole)
“farm product” includes animals, meats, eggs, poultry, wool, dairy products, fruit and fruit products, vegetables and vegetable products, maple products, honey, tobacco and any other natural products of agriculture or of the forest, and any articles of food or drink wholly or partly manufactured or derived from any of those products, that are designated by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council in accordance with this Act.(produit de la ferme)
“Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries.(ministre)
“plan” means a farm income plan established under this Act.(régime)
1975, c.F-5.1, s.1; 1982, c.24, s.1; 1986, c.8, s.44; 1996, c.25, s.13; 2000, c.26, s.124; 2007, c.10, s.32; 2010, c.31, s.42; 2017, c.63, s.23; 2019, c.2, s.57
Farm income plan
2(1)The Minister may prepare a farm income plan and, if the Minister is of the opinion that the plan is supported by a majority of the producers of a farm product in the Province who sell the product and that the number of producers who support the plan is sufficient to insure the viability of the plan, the Minister may recommend to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council that the plan be established.
2(2)Payments of benefits shall be made in accordance with the plan only to producers who have paid in accordance with the terms and conditions of the plan.
1975, c.F-5.1, s.3; 1982, c.24, s.2
Farm income assurance boards
3(1)A board is a body corporate and has the capacity of a natural person.
3(2)A board shall have the power to
(a) administer farm income payments prescribed by a plan;
(b) collect payments prescribed by a plan;
(c) establish a trust fund to which payments and other funds received shall be credited;
(d) make payments to producers in accordance with a plan;
(e) subject to the approval of the Minister, borrow by way of temporary loans from a chartered bank or from any person or corporation the sums that it requires on the terms that it determines;
(f) make recommendations to the Minister respecting the application of the plan, the terms and conditions of the plan or the effectiveness of the plan;
(g) delegate all or any administrative responsibilities and powers of the board to individuals or to an agency, corporate body, or a board established under the Natural Products Act and empower that board to exercise those powers;
(h) exercise the powers and perform the duties that are otherwise imposed on it by or under this Act; and
(i) when a producer is suspended from a plan or no longer qualifies, make an order as to the repayment of the whole or part of payments made by a producer or as to the payment of benefits that might accrue under the Act as a board considers just and proper.
3(3)The accounts and financial transactions of a board shall be audited annually by the Auditor General, and report of the audit shall be made to the Minister.
3(4)A board shall make an annual report of the affairs of the board to the Minister.
1982, c.24, s.2; 1999, c.N-1.2, s.116
Agreements respecting joint participation
4The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may authorize the Minister, subject to the terms and conditions that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council prescribes, to enter into an agreement on behalf of the Province that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council considers would provide for the joint participation by the Province and the Government of Canada or of any other province in a farm income plan.
1975, c.F-5.1, s.4
Loans and guarantees
5The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may direct the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board to make a loan to a board, or to guarantee the payment of any money that is to be borrowed or has been advanced to a board, on the terms that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council approves, and prescribe the form and manner of the loan or guarantee.
1982, c.24, s.3; 2019, c.29, s.56
Administration
6The Minister shall administer this Act.
1975, c.F-5.1, s.2
Regulations
7On the recommendation of the Minister, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by regulation
(a) establish, amend or revoke a farm income plan which may provide for
(i) the designation of the farm product or producers subject to a plan;
(ii) the designation of the quality, grade or standard of a farm product which will be subject to a plan;
(iii) the exemption of producers from a plan;
(iv) the withdrawal from a plan by a producer who is subject to a plan or the readmission into a plan;
(v) the sources of funding of a plan and payment of administrative costs;
(vi) the terms and conditions of payment to a producer subject to a plan;
(vii) payments to be made by producers who are subject to a plan, terms and conditions of payment and the times of payment;
(viii) suspension of participation in a farm income plan and forfeiture of any contribution or right to payment by a participant who provides false information to the prejudice of a plan, who enters a farm product subject to a plan which is not of a grade, quality or standard designated by the plan, who no longer qualifies to be under a plan or who fails to make any payments as required by a plan;
(b) prescribe terms and conditions of a plan;
(c) establish a farm income assurance board to administer a plan;
(d) provide for the composition and appointment of members of a farm income assurance board and the remuneration or allowances and reimbursement for expenses incurred while acting on behalf of a board;
(e) provide for the giving of notices with respect to any provision of a plan;
(f) empower a board to make by-laws pertaining to the internal management of the board;
(g) provide for the arbitration by an arbitrator or by an arbitration board of a dispute arising out of the implementation of a plan or any payments made under a plan;
(h) provide for the appointment of arbitrators or arbitration boards, and regulate the practice and procedure for arbitration;
(i) vest additional powers in the board for the purposes of administering a farm income plan established under this Act;
(j) despite any other Act, provide for the distribution of the funds held under a plan and the dissolving of the board when a plan is revoked;
(k) provide for forms for the purposes of this Act.
1975, c.F-5.1, s.3; 1982, c.24, s.2
N.B. This Act was proclaimed and came into force September 1, 2011.
N.B. This Act is consolidated to December 20, 2019.