Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to add my voice to the comment that we want to ensure we develop agricultural policies that benefit our farmers. We are not here to develop cheap food policies. We are here to ensure our farmers, our rural society, are strong and healthy and we will do that by doing things that are great for our environment, like biofuels.
The member talked at length about how important agriculture is to his riding, as it is to mine. We know that for 13 long years trade deals were not getting done in this country. We were not reaching out and developing bilaterals to ensure our agriculture producers had opportunities to sell on a competitive basis against the Americans, the Australians and Europeans and to ensure that our products were getting into the most lucrative markets with the least amount of barriers.
The hon. member was the chair of the standing committee on trade for some time. In a matter of a couple of short years we finally had some trade deals going ahead that will benefit agriculture across the country. We also have some concerns with what is happening with the Americans right now with its COOL legislation and how that will impact our red meat industry quite negatively. Would the member comment on what his cattle and hog producers in Alberta are saying?