Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to have an opportunity to address the motion today.
I understand, as the Government of Canada understands, that agriculture today is having some very difficult times. I recognize, too, that as I have travelled across the country talking not only to farmers, farm leaders and farm families but to other Canadians, that indeed all Canadians recognize the struggles being faced by Canadian farmers and farm families today.
Not only I but the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers have been out talking to farmers and farm groups to hear from them what they feel the approach of the Government of Canada should be. Not only are we talking with them, we are taking action. We are acting on many elements of the problem. We are also trying to deal with and solve some of the critical issues that face agriculture today.
One of the hon. members across used this opportunity to put forward a proposal from the Conservative Party. As I looked through that proposal, I recognized that in fact the Government of Canada had already acted on most of it. It was not until word was out in the farm community that we were acting and working toward something to help bridge farmers, from now until when the new CAIS program came in, that we finally received a response from the opposition as to how it feels the governments could best spend their money.
Just last week, I had a very productive meeting with the national safety nets advisory committee, which is a group of farmers from across this country who are involved in different parts of agriculture. They talked to me about where they felt the Government of Canada could best serve farmers with its safety net programs. We said at that time that some changes needed to be made to the Canadian agricultural income stabilization program, or CAIS program, and we have done exactly that.
At that meeting, we also talked about an annual review of the business risk management portion of our safety nets. There is concern in the agricultural community that with the bringing in of this new program farmers do not understand the program. They are not sure whether or not it will actually help them out.
What I have done is ask members of the farming community and my provincial colleagues to provide names of some people I could put on an advisory committee, which could in fact review this program to see whether or not it is working for farmers.
In fact, we went further. I asked them to get together a group of individuals who could review the new agricultural policy framework. This is the new framework that sets the relationship between the Government of Canada and farmers across this country for the next number of years. I want to make sure that program is working, so I have asked these groups to give me names so that I can draw together a group of people who could then look at the APF to see whether or not it is doing what we feel it should be doing for Canadian farmers across the country.
As was said earlier, the 2003 income situation for farmers was bleak. There was no question that Canadian farm income in 2003 was negative. We have not seen that in this country. We have never seen negative farm income.
We are responding to that. We hope the new safety net program we will be bringing in will be able to respond to the situation. In terms of funding, this program will not have some of the barriers that the old program had. We will be able to respond to this situation.
There are other dollars out there for farmers. Dollars have been put out to cattle producers, farmers who are feeling the negative impact of the border closing. We brought in a $520 million program for BSE.
Later on, we recognized that certain parts of the industry were not being helped by this program so we brought in another $200 million cull cow program. We also have brought in what is called a $600 million bridge funding program, which helps farmers move from the old safety net programs over to the new one. These funds are being funnelled to farmers now. Applications for farmers are being sent out. The process is ongoing.
I have asked my department to look very closely at those dollars that farmers are now eligible for to see if there are ways in which we can get them out more quickly. Unfortunately, I have to say that I wish we could do these things more quickly. I have asked my department to review the process with which we do this, because it is critically important that farmers who are eligible for these funds actually get them as quickly as possible. I have asked my department to look at ways in which we can do that, perhaps by designing programs.
I want the new safety net review committee to look specifically at this to make sure that the new program we have in place will indeed address the concerns and the problems being faced by Canadian farmers and farm families across the country.
I also want to say that we had negative income at a time when safety net dollars from the federal government and the provinces were at a record high. In fact, close to $5 billion in safety net dollars went out to farmers in the past year and we still had negative income, so we can imagine how difficult this situation is.
I believe that governments need to do more. That is why I have been sitting down with the members of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to work with them on how government can address the problems in the industry today. It is a different industry across the country. It is an industry made up of different types of farmers. Under the old program, some farmers were impacted in a better way by the dollars that went there.
I want to make sure that all farmers across the country are treated fairly. That is why I had meetings again today and yesterday with farm leaders to make sure that the design of any new program reflects the reality of the difficult situation that is being faced by farmers.
I want to talk a little about the border. It is critical that we get the border open. One of the reasons why Canadian farm income is so low is the BSE situation.
I have worked very hard with my provincial colleagues. I want to say that provincial colleagues across the country have come together on this issue, which we do not generally see. It always seems as though the provinces are blaming the federal government and the federal government is blaming the provinces. We have worked very hard to make sure that we have a coordinated approach on this issue. We have worked very hard in cooperation with farm groups, too, to make sure that the responses we are putting out are reflective of what really is needed within the industry.
I had an opportunity in the past month to speak on a number of occasions with U.S. Secretary Veneman. I had occasion in Costa Rica to mention the issue to U.S. trade ambassador Robert Zoellick. I know that the Prime Minister has spoken to President Bush about it and has also talked to President Fox of Mexico about the issue.
In the past few weeks our officials have gone to Washington to talk to the United States about how we might coordinate in an effort to, first and foremost, resume trade in North America in beef, and second, to work together at the OIE to get a coordinated approach and to get recognition at the OIE that in fact the situation of beef in Canada, in the United States and in Mexico is different from that in the European Union and in countries where there have been a number of cases of BSE.
As for cases, we have had one cow. The United States has had one cow. The international peer review panel, when it reviewed both Canada and the United States, said that particularly here in Canada the response we took to this one case of BSE was in fact a response that could give Canadian consumers, and indeed consumers around the world, the confidence that not only is Canadian beef some of the highest quality in the world but it is indeed some of the safest in the world.
We are working with our American colleagues, and our Mexican colleagues too, to work together to market North American beef around the world and to move into these countries such as those in Asia and other countries that have taken North American beef in the past, to work with their governments and also to work with their consumers to give them the confidence that the international review panel gave Canada: that in fact our beef is some of the safest beef in the world.
We will continue to work to get these borders open. The Americans have indicated to us that in fact there will be a review period. Based on this new case of BSE in Washington state, that review period with regard to live cattle going into the United States will more than likely be 30 days.
After that 30 day period is done, once that legal period is done, we have an argument that I believe is based upon science and is one that recognizes the fact that the risk factors between the United States and Canada are no different. In fact, these risk factors, which frankly are based upon some of the responses we have taken with regard to tracking, tracing, surveillance and testing of animals, are the same. There should be absolutely no reason why the U.S. border should not be opening to all live cattle once that legal process now in place is done.
We will be working with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, with our provincial colleagues and with other countries around the world to make sure that we get that message out loud and clear to those decision makers in the United States who will decide when the border will open.
It is not a question of whether the border will open; it is a question of when. I believe, as I said, that we have the arguments in place to give the United States the opportunity to work within the international protocols of the OIE and to recognize in fact that the border should open.
Finally, I want to bring hon. members' attention to the hard work and the dedication of public servants across this country, within my own department and within the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. They have been working very hard on this issue and have been in meetings for hours at a time, working with countries around the world. They have been in Japan, in Korea, in Russia, and in China. They are going to these countries, telling them and showing them exactly what it is that we have been doing in Canada to try to give them the confidence they need to open their borders. We have been somewhat successful. We have opened borders a lot more than anybody else ever has when they have had a case of BSE. We will continue to work on that.
I want to give Canadian farmers and farm families my commitment to work with their leaders and with them to bring in programs and provide the necessary safeguards they need to continue to farm.
It is difficult. We have a group of young Canadian farmers in Ottawa today who are meeting and I know how difficult it is for a young farmer to start out in this industry. We have, I believe, within the agricultural policy framework, the tools that are necessary to help these farmers in fact do that.
In Canada, we need to move beyond this crisis-driven approach to agriculture. Not only do we need to deal with the crisis that we have today, but we also need to look to the future.
Mr. Speaker, I know you have read the task force report that I chaired with the Prime Minister and which talked about moving agriculture beyond crisis-driven agriculture.
I think we have some of the solutions and I want to use that to work with farm leaders across the country to bring in the programs that meet the needs of Canadian farmers and not just meet the needs of the public servants who put them together. I have asked the people in my department to go through the document to make sure the voices I heard as I travelled across the country were heard and that as a government we take the action necessary to address their concerns.
In terms of the motion, I think we need to move beyond motions like this in the House. We need to move beyond the name calling across the floor. We need to work together as a Parliament with the focused goal of helping farmers, farm families and communities across the country.
I believe there are opportunities in agriculture. I believe Canadians recognize how critically important the food they eat is to the future of our country. If we do not deal with the international challenges that we will be facing, then we will be importing food into this country and Canadians will not know what type of food they will be eating.
We do get cheap food. There is no question that over the years there has been a cheap food policy. There is concern among many farmers and farm families that their share of that food dollar is not what it should be. In fact their share of the food dollar has been going down over the years.
I believe there are some structural problems within the industry that need to be addressed. One of the ways in which we can do that is to work through value added chains that we have set up in our department to get the producers, the processors and the retailers in the beef industry sitting down at the same table and recognizing that if they do not resolve their own problems, the challenges that they have are not within the Canadian industry itself but are from outside, and that if we concentrate too much on the day to day problems we will miss the fact that there are other countries out there willing to challenge us internationally, including countries like Brazil and China that have a lot of low cost ability.
Those are countries around the world that in fact used to be net importers of Canadian products. Now they are net exporters and we need to recognize that. If we do not, then we will fall behind. This is where I believe the agricultural policy framework can work best. It contains provisions which can help farmers and farming communities address these challenges internationally. Over the next number of weeks and months ahead I will be working with farm groups to ensure they are able to work with the programs within the agricultural policy framework and to ensure these programs are actually working for them.
I will leave with one note. The Government of Canada, from the Prime Minister on down, has recognized the difficult situation our farmers and farm families are facing today. We are working with the provinces and the industry to address the needs. I can give the farm families the assurance that we recognize that there is a problem out there, but at the same time we want to make sure that the programs we bring in are the best to suit their particular problems. These are problems that have challenged us for many years and the Government of Canada and my caucus colleagues will continue to work toward resolving them.
