We're having quite the start this morning. I appreciate everybody's frankness.
My family has a farm in Cape Breton and my brothers had supply management and I was in the vegetable business, so I've seen both sides of it and the advantages of supply management. But there are some problems in supply management. We're hearing that across the country--not as much as return on investment, but more so on young people getting into it. I think the marketing boards seem to be coming to grips with that. They have to step up to the plate. I think you're going to see some changes in the marketing board system, because they need young people coming in.
I'd like to pick up where Peter is on the apple situation. Touring across this country, we were in the Okanagan Valley and we were hearing the same thing from the orchard people there. I'm sure it's the same in the valley. It would be a lot cheaper for you or a lot more financially advisable just to sell your orchard to somebody out of Halifax and they put a few horses out there. That's what's happening in the Okanagan Valley. But they're getting the cheap apples from the States.
I think it's about time for the tree fruit industry to have some sort of supply management--at the very least, a floor price of some sort. It's going to be a shame: once we lose all those orchards, they'll never come back. The land will be used for something else.
So I think the will is there across the country, but the producers have to sit down and put it on the table. I think that needs to be done.
We also heard about provincial programs. I was surprised to hear that a lot of farmers wanted money to be going back to the provinces or the federal money being spent by the provinces. It's similar to what we do in health care: you say okay, the federal government gives the provinces money, but we expect certain criteria.
There's no doubt there is a big difference between Quebec and many of the provinces. That's why Quebec is successful and that's why they have younger farmers.
If the federal government did a system where they give the provincial governments more money, would we be pushing for more of a maritime approach to this, or would you suggest that we go with individual provinces coming out with programs? I think Patricia alluded to this, that programs should be different here from in Saskatchewan or whatever. I just wanted to go into that. What kinds of programs would you like to see if there were more money coming from the federal to the provincial? How should that be doled out?