Mr. Speaker, my request to have additional time on a particular issue was triggered by a response I received from the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food on February 14. I asked the minister what action he intended to take with respect to the very desperate straits in which tobacco producers were and are finding themselves. The minister answered:
The member knows that we are moving on this file and that we will get the job done. He should stay tuned.
That was some seven weeks ago and nothing of substance has been done for the 1,500 quota owners who are facing very difficult times.
It is important to note that this is not simply a bail out of yet another sector which is facing difficulty. Tobacco producers are in a unique situation and the minister, his parliamentary secretary and members of the agriculture and agri-food committee know that.
It is not just about the high Canadian dollar. Everybody is facing the high Canadian dollars. It is not just the pressure from global competitors because many are facing that type of pressure.
The reality is that almost 40% of tobacco consumed in Canada is contraband. No other commodity is facing pressure from such an illegal competitor. Forty per cent is contraband tobacco, which is what, in and of itself, makes the situation of tobacco producers unique, and the minister knows that.
How disappointed, how shocked, frankly, the tobacco producers were when there was nothing in the budget of the Minister of Finance to assist them. Expectations had been raised and hopes certainly had been fueled but to this point nothing whatsoever has been done for this sector.
The average age of tobacco farmers is 58. They were so upset as a result of a conference call on Monday of last week that 150 of them descended en masse at the office of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in whose riding most of the tobacco farmers live but do not work. Hardly any work, frankly. They were so upset that they remained.
Local media in my riding and in neighbouring ridings have taken up the cause, particularly, a journalist named Michael-Allan Marion, who writes for the Expositor, a daily in my riding. Mr. Marion has been articulate and relentless in his coverage of this issue in his desire, felt by constituents, by readership, that something be done for tobacco producers.
I ask the parliamentary secretary today to explain, if he can, what the minister meant when he said on February 14, “The member knows that we are moving on this file and that we will get the job done. He should stay tuned”.
I have stayed tuned, tobacco farmers have stayed tuned and the channel must be changed. There is nothing on the screen. What is on the horizon for tobacco producers?