Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you that from now on my colleagues and I will be splitting our time.
It is always a pleasure to speak on agriculture, especially when the motion is introduced by the Bloc. I always enjoy the attitude its members take toward agriculture. They know how important it is. I appreciate that even if we do not always agree on certain issues. They know fundamentally that agriculture is the basis of Quebec as it is in western Canada. The Liberals will get educated. Some day they will listen. They are starting to listen already.
On the farm we always say that the pasture always looks greener on the other side of the fence. That is probably true in Quebec as well as in western Canada. Maybe it is time for Quebecers to take a rest from the milking industry, buy some farmland in western Canada and start grain farming. It would be a real pleasure to have them there working side by side. Then they would really appreciate some of the problems that the grain farmers have had in the last few years.
Their non-votable opposition motion says that grain farmers will be enabled to diversify. That is a little harsh or maybe not quite correct. Grain farmers will be forced to diversify. Not very many grain farmers today would love to jump into the dairy
industry or the beef industry and take some jobs and production away from people who are in that farming industry.
I have spoken with a number of dairy farmers in Manitoba during the last couple of weeks. They sometimes look very jealously toward Quebec and say: "Why can we not have some of that quota? They only have one-quarter of the population and have 48 per cent of the milk quota".
I have said to them: "Why do we not solve this whole problem of separation? Why do some of you people not go and buy up some of those dairy farms in Quebec and start farming?" If we could get some of the Quebec dairy farmers into western Canada, maybe the separation issue could be solved. Maybe we could understand each other a little better.
I would much rather have some of the Quebec people come into western Canada and buy some of the grain farms than the Europeans. I make this invitation to them.
The other thing I would like to address today is some of the unfairness that they are talking about. It is not due to the agriculture practices of the farmers. It is due to some of the previous governments' overspending and over taxation. That is causing us some of the problems.
I see some of the hon. members on the other side shaking their heads. They must agree with that. If we can agree on some of these problems, maybe we can find some of the solutions.