Mr. Bellavance.
Evidence of meeting #69 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farmers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #69 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farmers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Sorry, out of luck. That's it.
Even before I was farming on my own and still working in conjunction with my father, Mr. Chair, I spent most of my adult life trying not only to work in the industry, but make the industry better for everybody. I know I'm not the only one. There could be other individuals in this room, and there certainly are among the 308 MPs here.
I was elected to my first agricultural board when I was 18 years old. I like to feel that I've contributed. We're all here with the right intentions. But sometimes, as with Mr. Easter's motion, we can stray a bit, and I think that's exactly what's happened here. When you stray from the course or the mainstream, you usually end up going backwards. So we're going there.
Some of the things that I have to point out, Mr. Chairman, are some of the comments that the minister used to make his decision on April 20.
The National Farmers Union's regional coordinator, Ranald MacFarlane, wrote:
The part of this program that really maddens me is that in order to get some reparation for the lost income on our farms, we farmers are required to access business assessment and skill development to help us improve our farm or off-farm income potential over the long term.
This was in the Journal Pioneer in Summerside, P.E.I., I presume, on May 10 last year.
Terry Plough from the National Farmers Union said: “It likely is a hidden 'transition' program to get farmers off the land...”. We know that isn't true.
Those are just a couple of examples, Mr. Chairman, of the kind of criticism.
It also says: “or to raise their skills in order to get an off-farm job to sustain the family”. Again, we know that was not the intention of the program, the minister, or this government. But again, that was the frustration level with one of our so-called leading farm organizations around the country, and that was in the The Western Producer last year, on August 3.
Ian Wishart, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, also known as KAP, which I believe, Mr. Chairman, is based in your province, said: “I suspect that many of those farm families are working 24-7...”. Anybody who's in the industry knows that to be true. Charlie spent all weekend at home with those Hereford cows with that many hours, I'm sure.
And they “have very little time to take any additional skills training”, said David Rolfe, the vice-president. “They've certainly not sat on their backsides wondering what to do”. We all know that. But again, this is criticism coming from a leading farm organization. He also goes on to say: “They're working as many hours as they can to make ends meet“.
That's the thing. Going back to the comment about the 24-7, farming is a 24-7 job. No doubt, a lot of them put in those kinds of hours sometimes. And that was in the Canadian Press last year, on July 31.
I'm going back to Ian Wishart's comments about the Canadian farm families options program. He said: “It was written without consultation and failed to meet expectations as a result”.
Of course there was consultation—
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
It's not a point of order. He can't interrupt on a point of information.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
I'd really like to know where you get that five is more than seven.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
Mr. Miller, you have the floor. Please proceed with your comments.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
It's going to take me a second to gather my thoughts again. I was so rudely interrupted that I forgot.
4:50 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
They were talking about consultation here. This program was put in place with a lot of thought over time within the department and the ministry.
We all agree that the attempt was great. It was to try to address some immediate problems of low-income farm families. While it may have done some good, there were an awful lot of people who couldn't qualify for it. That came out in some of the criticism that we took for it.
To back that up, I'm going to have to point out more of the criticism. From the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, APAS, President Ken McBride said:
Though it sounds feasible and beneficial, Ottawa's recent splurge of $550 million on low-income farm families only is a short-term remedy. With this plan, the government diverts attention from the deficiency in Canada's agricultural policy relative to the U.S.
That was in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, August 22.
He talks about the short-term remedy here. Part of this program, as was originally announced, was to try to get—as I just said a few minutes ago—some immediate, and you may call it a short-term, influx of cash to those low-income farm families that were needing it the most.
But again, the reason I point this out, Mr. Chairman, is that it was simply another criticism of this program leading up to the minister's decision.
Mr. McBride also noted, and this is a different comment at another date, that “the initiative is only short-term and doesn’t address the issue of the competitive disadvantages between Canadian and American producers.” That's another issue altogether, away from this issue.
Mr. McBride said that “while the government support is encouraging”—so he does have a bit of happiness with it—“this kind of funding offers producers cash to buy groceries and fails to invest in their industry.” This was in the Meadow Lake Progress last year on July 8.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
A point of order. I'm wondering, with Mr. Miller making all these quotes, is he onside with the quotes? If he's onside with the quotes, then he obviously was opposed to the program, which we never heard him say before.
If he's offside with the quotes, and he's in favour of the program that he's now voting against, he's kind of caught on the fence.
You can't have it both ways, Mr. Miller, either you agree with the quotes or you don't.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I don't believe it is a point of order; it's a point of debate, Mr. Miller.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
I didn't think so.
In no way am I saying that I support these quotes. What I'm doing, Mr. Chairman, is pointing out the criticism that was out there. I'm also disputing that as Mr. Easter and others are insinuating, the minister acted on his own with no justification. This is some of the justification.
