NonGM Farmer, as usual you have totally mis-read this. On what other subjects would you prefer to get all you information from a Government Press Release rather than by reading the documentation? Even the Press Release does not support your claims this is a subsidy.

For farmers to access the CAIS, they must pay to insure their margin. Do Australian farmers need to pay to access the Exceptional Circumstances funding? Or is this just an impost on the taxpayer?

I should also point out that you seem to be the only one who considers this scheme a subsidy. Canada is, and remains, a member of the Cairns group along with Australia pressing for agricultural subsidies to be removed. Nobody in that Group, least of all Australia, has asked them to leave.

I’m sure it’s all about percentages Agronomist. Canada does not subsidize at the rate that US does, so if Canada can get rid of the US subsidy then they would be better off and at a level playing field.

You don't have to be too brilliant to read what has happened Agronomist.
Following farmer protests, the government released more money for subsidies with a plan to put this through the The Farm Income Payment Program but obviously the simplest method (and an avenue to avoid WTO pressure) was to amalgamate the FIPP scheme with the CAIS scheme.
A drop in costs for an insurance scheme from 22% to 0.45% is certainly a subsidy.
CAIS no longer works as it did previously as the deposit has been eliminated and the CAIS bank accounts are paid out and closed. Also "Producers who participated in CAIS in the 2003, 2004, or 2005 program years do not have to make a deposit or pay a fee for these program years." .

"Officials will continue to work toward putting the necessary authorities in place to improve negative margin coverage under the program and to establish a targeted advance which will proactively direct assistance to commodities or regions affected by a disaster." See http://www.agr.gc.ca/caisprogram/main.html
and from the fact sheet: http://www.agr.gc.ca/caisprogram/factsheets/faq_fee.html

Previously, producers had to set aside 22 per cent of the value of their reference margins in a CAIS account to have full protection under the program but thats been slashed to 0.45%.

eg: "Maximum Protection
If you had a $60,000 reference margin and you chose Maximum Protection (100%), your participation fee would be $270.00 ($60,000 x .45% x 100%). You will also need to pay the $55 Administrative Cost Share, for a total of $325.00."

A very cheap option for risk protection for commodity failure isn't it? These changes are certainly a government funded subsidy no matter how you dress it up. Considering Canadian farmers had such a good season, you wouldn't think they would need an additional $1.2billion would you?

NonGMFarmer, nice to see you have gone back to the sources at last. You have not got it right because you want to believe so hard that this is a subsidy.

Things you have missed:

The scheme prior to 2005 required funds to be set aside, not paid in. Part of the rationale, would be that growers would then have sufficient funds to restructure their business.

If your margins continue to decline, for whatever reason, your protected margin will decline. In fact after two years of payouts, the amount farmers will be eligible for will be much less.

The scheme protects against all sources of loss of margin - drought, hail, frost and low commodity prices. It is not effective to increase input costs over the long term as you will never get your full margin back that way. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had a significant impact on some input costs in 2005, that should level out this year.

Farmers only get a payout if their margin for 2005 was lower than the average margin for three out of the last five years (excluding the highest and lowest). Many Canadian crop growers are likely to get little or nothing from this scheme. Livestock enterprise generally stand to gain the most.

It's no point changing the goal posts to suit yourself Bill.

Back to the source:

"Through today's announcement of $755 million, together with the $439 million provided through the Farm Income Payment program earlier this year, the Government of Canada is making nearly $1.2 billion available to address the immediate needs of grains and oilseeds producers."

and the government press release on http://www.agr.gc.ca/cb/index_e.php?s1=n&s2=2005&page=n50329a

"The Farm Income Payment Program will begin delivering the money in April as part of a two-part plan to ease immediate financial pressures on farmers and allow for a transformation of the industry that addresses the root causes of declining farm income."

Loss of margin is about higher costs and lower commodity price. Australia doesn't get these subsidies for loss of margin to compensate for high cost and low commodity prices for GM.