Mr. Speaker, I have been actively involved in agricultural politics for some 30 years. In that time we have had a lot of discussion about these types of bills and legislative fixes that are required to bring Canada into the 21st century. We have made good strides, and I welcome the intervention from the parliamentary secretary in this regard.
This goes from coast to coast, right from horticulture through to the grains and oilseeds sector. New and better varieties would give us new feed varieties to go into the pork, beef, sheep, and lamb sectors, which are very important. This would let us connect the dots across the spectrum of agriculture, getting the new feed varieties and seed varieties farmers of all stripes have been asking for decades, since UPOV '78.
The biggest difference in UPOV '91 is the ability of farmers to save seed. That is a huge change from UPOV '78, where it does not even exist. That is a tremendous step forward.
There is a lot of misinformation by one or two groups out there that is completely wrong in this respect. That is why all of the mainstream agricultural groups are fully supportive of this and want to see us get it done as soon as possible.