Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this debate. I want to draw the attention of this House to the policy and initiatives of the government regarding an important sector of the Canadian economy. I am referring to the agricultural and agri-food industry. More specifically, I want to talk about the dairy, poultry and pork industries, for which quotas are in place.
Mr. Speaker, as the member representing the riding next to mine, I am sure you will agree on the importance of quotas in the agricultural sector.
The main objective of the Liberal government's agricultural policy is food security for Canadians and decent revenues for all our farmers. Supply management, which is a system put in place by a Liberal government almost a quarter of a century ago, confirms the merits and the success of this policy.
You all remember former Liberal minister Eugene Whelan. I know that the hon. member for Québec-Est knew him well, because I think that at one time he worked in his office. Mr. Whelan's daughter is now a member of this House and she also does a very good job of representing the interests of farmers, as do the hon. members for Haldimand-Norfolk and Prince Edward-Hastings, and also the minister of agriculture.
As I said, in the early seventies, the Liberal government of the time put in place regulated marketing programs for the dairy, poultry and pork industries. This system is based on two basic principles: domestic production quotas and, of course, efficient control over imports to protect the quotas.
Supply management stabilized farmers' revenues, and ensured the supply of top quality and healthy food products to Canadians, while also providing an important regional economic development tool.
For the benefit of opposition members I would like to mention again the considerable accomplishments of this government regarding supply management. Less than six weeks after being elected, the government had already negotiated an agreement under GATT which is acceptable to the agricultural sector, and which ensures that supply management will enable us to meet the challenges ahead and take advantage of the opportunities provided by GATT. This is what we call effective and concerted action.
I would like to quote from an article written by Mr. Pierre Glaude and published in the December 20, 1993 issue of Agricom, a newspaper in my riding: "The goal is the same", said the new chairman of the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec, Mr. Laurent Pellerin, "only the means to reach it have changed. The organization is trying to reassure its members. Under the new GATT agreement, supply management programs will be maintained through tariffs".
In other words, contrary to what some members opposite have said, the spokespersons for the Quebec agricultural community consider that the measures taken by our government were successful in protecting our quotas.
Not only in Quebec do farmers and their representatives make such statements. In my riding, people agree. Representatives of the farm industry maintain that the new tariffs will protect our quota systems.
This may be the best argument I could use to show how much Canadian farmers still have confidence in our quota system and why members opposite should not try to undermine that. The confidence of our farmers is what enables us to maintain the value of our quotas. Quotas have increased in value since the GATT accord was signed. What does this tell us? It tells us that the agricultural community is confident and takes position that supply management will be around for a long time. After all, people do not buy quotas, and certainly not on credit, when they expect these quotas be phased out very shortly. The agricultural community believes, as we do, that quotas will be around for a long time and will be protected by the new tariffs negotiated with other countries.
Speaking of tariffs, I have here, as I mentioned it this morning, a list of the tariffs tabled by our government at GATT, and I want to point out that the United States raised no objections to these tariffs. We must have tabled hundreds of pages of agricultural tariffs in Marrakesh, but no objections were raised by the United States. In the dairy sector, tariffs of around 300 per cent were mentioned, and I disagree with the way the Reform Party Member calculated the price of those tariffs. In any case, these tariffs will be reduced by 15 per cent over a period of six years, not 15 per cent annually but 15 per cent over six years.
In the Liberal red book, and especially in the policy paper on agriculture, the government was committed to staunchly defending our supply management programs at the GATT negotiations. That is what the Liberal government did, and it succeeded. It managed to obtain a tariff system under which we will be able to maintain our marketing boards and supply management and everything that entails. As a result, the impact of fluctuating prices will be kept to a minimum and farmers as well as food processors will be guaranteed a decent income.
During the Uruguay round, the Liberal government did everything it could to defend Canada's supply management system. We should remember that the position of the Canadian government during the weeks leading up to the GATT agreement was established in consultation with the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the minister of agriculture worked very hard with colleagues and senior officials to ensure that all sectors in Canada's agriculture industry would not only survive GATT but also be able to take advantage of the opportunities provided in the GATT agreement.
Earlier, the Official Opposition's finance critic said that everyone in the agriculture industry had lost at GATT, but nothing could be further from the truth. The agricultural industry made major gains at GATT, and all members opposite know that perfectly well. They know about the US farm bill which dates back to 1985 and which the United States used to subsidize its agricultural industry and thus harm our exports.
Some US $70 billion were paid out during the first five years of this American farm program, and we know that the purpose of this program was to take away part of the market share held by other countries, especially countries in the southern hemisphere, but of course Canada was also affected by the U.S. Farm Bill, though it was not the main target. The United States wanted to react against overproduction and the fact that other countries, after the crisis in Afghanistan, had tried to sell wheat and other products to the Soviet Union and thus take over part of the so-called traditional market share of the Americans.
The members opposite know this, just as they know that our farmers could no longer continue receiving large farm subsidies, given the major losses experienced in the sector. Some members opposite even admitted as much a while ago. That is why the government had to work with other countries for the good of the entire agricultural community.
First, it had to work to strengthen the laws governing supply management. As we know, there were problems with some of these laws. You may recall the incident with ice cream and yogurt, following the adoption in 1988 of the free trade agreement, which moreover was endorsed by the current Leader of the Opposition. Hon. members will also recall that the FTA led us to lose our case with respect to quotas on ice cream and yogurt. These were restored with the GATT agreement.
With respect to the grains sector, some of the subsidies from other countries have been reduced, thereby allowing us to market our products. New markets have been found for Canadian products. Our ministers have worked hard and so has the parliamentary secretary. The agricultural sector has been well treated by our government and we have just begun our work. We have only been in office for six months and we have already accomplished a great deal. And we will accomplish even more in the future.