Mr. Chair, I rise to speak in the House for the first time and I too would like to thank the confidence bestowed upon me by the great people of Selkirk--Interlake.
I am a cattle producer. My riding is heavily dependent upon cattle production as well as the other ruminant industries. There are elk herds, bison operations, and even goats and sheep. Everyone has been affected dramatically by the BSE closure. The livestock industry in my area has sent me here to be its voice and I plan to be a very strong voice.
My children will have a future in this industry. That is why I came here. It is to ensure that the next generation can really be excited about what is left for them in agriculture. We as a government have a responsibility to fix this problem, fix it quick, and ensure that everything is in place for the next generation and generations to come.
The ranch and farm families in Selkirk--Interlake and across this country have been devastated by what has happened. When the border first shut down, everyone was worried. That worry turned into anger and that anger turned into desperation. Now that desperation is turning into depression. It is the responsibility of the government to look at this whole issue and ensure that this desperation does not slide any deeper.
I have people in my riding who are talking about getting right out of the industry and doing some drastic things to their herds of animals and to themselves. I do not like listening to that. We must recognize the fact that this is a major issue. It seems that we are not getting a lot of attention from the media, but I am really concerned that it can be as dramatic as the dirty thirties were to the farming industry at that time.
This has escalated into hurting businesses in my riding. It used to be that farmers would walk in and buy boxes of bolts and nails. All they can afford to do now is buy a few bolts and nails to fix up their operations. We must ensure that we can flow the money into that economy through the farmers so that they can pay their bills and encourage the businesses that support them.
I am really concerned about our rural infrastructure. If we are not flowing monies into our communities to help out the farmers and to carry on those businesses, once those businesses end, no one is going to be there to pick up the pieces.
The municipalities in my riding are also greatly concerned. We have a situation where municipalities do not believe they are going to be able to collect the taxes this year from the farmers in order to carry on with their own infrastructure programs and the services that they provide for our communities.
One of the issues that we have in Manitoba is a lack of slaughter capacity. We have an organization called Rancher’s Choice Beef Co-op. I have raised this before with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and with his parliamentary secretary. We must ensure that we can encourage the growth of the packing industry. Rancher's Choice Beef Co-op is trying to do that. It is under some tight deadlines in getting its project off the ground. It is trying to buy a plant in the United States and move into Manitoba. It has until the middle of the month to come through with the money. The Province of Manitoba has stepped up and provided some funding. It has gone first to the Farm Credit Canada capital venture fund to get funding. Unfortunately it was rejected because it was a new start-up.
It has the loan lost program, but there is no application or way for it to access those funds. It has been told that it could be the end of the month before it is available. That is too late.
One final issue that I want to bring forward deals with having a level playing field. We must ensure that all producers, wherever they are located in the provinces, have the same access to all the program funding that is available during these desperate times. If producers are in a have not province like Manitoba, where the province has not stepped up with all the funds yet, they are at a great disadvantage compared to the producers in other provinces like Alberta.
In conclusion, I am an optimist. I believe that out of all desperate situations and out of all adversity the resilience of our producers will provide opportunities. We must ensure that we provide the mechanisms so that the industry will recover.
