House of Commons Hansard #39 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was theft.

Topics

6:45 p.m.

Bloc

Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite talks, but does not talk about Bill C-482 brought forward by the Bloc Québécois because she has nothing to say on this topic. She was seen and heard laughing earlier when I spoke to the motion.

After one of my questions, the member and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages said in the House that their government was promoting both official languages, and it is true. The Conservative Party and the Conservative government are promoting both official languages in Quebec.

The Conservative government does not protect the interests of Quebeckers. It cannot offer any protection because these interests include the French language. The Conservative government is « powerless » and cannot do anything for the French language. « Powerless » is one of the favourite words of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

We, the Bloc, are the ones who stand for the Quebec nation, its fundamental rights, its civil code and its language. In fact, the Canada Post Corporation gave us a clear reminder about this fact during the week. It printed a calendar without the Fête nationale des Québécois. This is an insult to all Quebeckers. The Canada Post Corporation has a corporate culture—

6:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Status of Women has the floor.

6:45 p.m.

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC

Mr. Speaker, we are determined to promote official languages in Canada, and we are working to do so. Of course, this includes French right across Canada, but also in Quebec.

The Government of Canada is taking into consideration Quebec's francophone reality in all of its initiatives, including the implementation of the Official Languages Act. This is evidenced by the current development of the renewal strategy for the official languages action plan, and by the numerous measures that have been taken.

A major component of the Official Languages Act, and of the approach that will be used, is based on the principles of linguistic duality.

The Prime Minister of Canada rose in the House to recognize the Quebec nation and this is what upsets the Bloc Québécois.

6:45 p.m.

Liberal

Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON

Mr. Speaker, I will address the question of the minority government ignoring the pending collapse of Canada's pork and beef industry, firstly with a national overview, followed by the role of the province of Ontario, and then a local perspective.

Let it be stated emphatically that the absence of the federal minister in this crisis and the lack of a compassionate response means that every day more farmers go out of business permanently. The abandonment of rural Canada by the federal Conservatives is now well documented. Why do they not help our farmers?

To address this crisis, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food recommended several measures, including: interest-free loans; paying out the remaining percentage owed producers under the CAIS inventory; examining ways to relieve the pressure on the industry from the rising Canadian dollar; improving the responsiveness of business risk management when a liquidity crunch arises in the farming sector; fast tracking the federal $600 million Kickstart program so that funds can start flowing earlier than initially planned; reviewing regulatory measures susceptible of putting the Canadian meat industry at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis other countries; and helping producers, processors and renderers with the disposal and storage costs of ruminant specified risk material. All of these were recommended.

Decreasing prices, increasing input costs, the strengthened Canadian dollar and regulatory compliance costs are all elements of a perfect storm, which has resulted in an acute income crisis for the beef and pork industries. Although both the production and processing sectors are affected, the crisis became acute this fall for hog and cattle producers, who are struggling to meet even their most immediate financial obligations. It also is felt that some regulatory measures such as inspection fees and the ban on SRMs has put Canadian meat processors at a competitive disadvantage.

Feedback received by the standing committee suggests that the Canadian agricultural income stabilization program, CAIS, was well received by producers. The question now front and centre is that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, on Wednesday, January 23, which is known as agricultural day in Canada, announced publicly in a widely circulated propaganda video that CAIS has been replaced. Regrettably, the government is dragging its federal feet.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Clare Schlegel of the Canadian Pork Council stated, “Canada's hog industry is simply looking for a short-term loan program and improvements to the CAIS program”.

These requests have so far been rebuffed. She states further:

As the request[s] for a short-term loan program and improvements to the CAIS...program have been denied, the liquidity problems for our farmers are getting worse every day.

This industry is world class and has the basic fundamentals to succeed in the future. However, our Canadian Government must also accept its responsibility of providing a stable business environment if it wants value-added businesses to continue adding to the balance of trade.

Mr. Geri Kamenz, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, wants Ottawa to provide its share of much needed public investment in agriculture. Ontario Pork chairman Curtis Littlejohn has long voiced concern that Ottawa has thus far ignored pork's requests. As Ian McKillop, president of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, has said, more has to be done to meet the livestock industry's current needs.

6:50 p.m.

Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry Ontario

Conservative

Guy Lauzon ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to rise in the House this evening to speak to this issue.

As the member opposite knows, this government and this minister are committed to putting farmers first. The government is working closely with our partners in the livestock sector and with provincial and territorial leaders to resolve the difficulties facing Canadian livestock producers.

Shortly after forming government, we sat down with industry and producers and asked for their input on fixing Canada's national farm programs. As members can see, unlike previous Liberal governments, this government develops farm programs based on what farmers want and need. The result of those consultations with farmers was the “Growing Forward” document. Through these programs, money is flowing right now to producers.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced a $600 million kickstart to seed the new AgriInvest accounts. That is brand new money for our agricultural sector. That money is flowing toward cattle and hog sectors as we speak.

Furthermore, we have worked with provinces to accelerate access to targeted advance payments and interim payments. We have also improved the advance payments program, making an additional $1 billion in loans available to livestock producers right across Canada.

Hog producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are already receiving targeted advance payments. Producers in other provinces are receiving interim payments. Together, these two program components have already resulted in payments of more than $85 million.

When we sat down with the members of the livestock sector, they requested that a number of features be included in AgriStability. These suggestions included: broader eligibility criteria for negative margin coverage; the targeted advance payment, TAP, mechanism to respond to disaster situations; and a better method of valuing inventories. We included these changes and they are helping to ensure the program is more responsive to losses in the livestock sector.

Let me give an example of how our aid is getting directly to farmers. From late 2007 through 2008, nearly $1.5 billion in cash payments is expected to flow to livestock producers through existing and new programs. This is in addition to the $1 billion in additional loans available to the livestock sector under the APP.

Additional government initiatives that are helping our livestock sector include: $51 million for improvements to the temporary foreign workers program to address labour availability in the processing sector; $76 million to combat the circovirus in the hog industry, with $25 million available in direct financial assistance for testing and vaccines; and $80 million provided to develop the infrastructure to dispose of specified risk materials from slaughtered animals.

This government is committed to putting farmers first.

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON

I agree, Mr. Speaker, that the government should be committed.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture and a broad spectrum of community group representatives met recently and suggested solutions that the federal government must provide. I hope it does.

My constituent, Mr. Erik Johansson, president of Thunder Bay's Federation of Agriculture, advises: “Some form of federal 'Made in Canada' or 'Grown in Canada' product identification legislation is of critical importance. Having food products on the grocery shelf labelled as 'Product of Canada' when they were really produced or grown in another part of the world is just wrong”.

He advises: “That being said, there is an immediate need to support local producers. Many have been running on a financial shoestring since BSE hit, and for many this current crisis is the straw that will break them if they do not get some kind of immediate help”.

“The other major point to be considered,” he advises, “is that the majority of processing and packing power in the Canadian meat industry is under 'offshore' control. If a majority of the--

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON

Mr. Speaker, after 13 years of neglect under Liberal governments, this government invested $4.3 billion in agriculture in just two years. Unlike the party opposite, whose leader admits to knowing nothing about agriculture, this government, this Prime Minister and this agriculture minister really put farmers first.

I am proud to be part of this government. When I travel this country and consult with farmers, they say, “For the first time ever, we feel that the government is listening to our concerns”.

Farmers in the livestock industry are going through some tough times. We are there and we are going to continue to put farmers first.

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:58 p.m.)