Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the committee, first I'm going to provide an overview of the situation. You have a summary, which we've sent to you in both languages. I'll mostly stick to that summary. I hope to stay within the five minutes that are allotted us. First, I'm goi

Finance committee  We didn't travel here...

Agriculture committee  We have studied the question of voluntary agencies very seriously. They existed in the 1990s in the apple and potato sectors, among other plant productions. They were failures. Ultimately, they had to be abandoned. Here are the reasons that I gave: there was no critical mass, an

Agriculture committee  To return to your first question, there is solidarity between producers, and that solidarity guides the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec. We have solidarity with the western producers. We are part of the same Canadian federation. It’s also a question of principle. There

Agriculture committee  Hello Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. You already know that the Canadian Wheat Board ensures that producers earn fairer and higher market revenues. It guarantees stable and foreseeable supply for the agroprocessing industry. It generates more than 14,700 direct and in

Agriculture committee  With regard to compliance with the Uruguay Round Agreement, I doubt it. We always cite the US as an example; the US awarded ice cream import quotas to Jamaica. But you know full well that Jamaica does not produce ice cream. It barely has any cows. So you can see the kind of circu

Agriculture committee  I have met many representatives of other countries, and what we have always found surprising is how poorly other countries understand our systems. We have to explain that what we do is different from what the Europeans do. The Europeans have quotas in the dairy sector as we do, b

Agriculture committee  Can we improve access to the market without changing supply management? We should certainly be able to. Earlier, we heard that, according to a serious study, there would be an 80% increase in agricultural commodities trade, provided that everyone complied with the Uruguay round

Agriculture committee  I would basically reiterate what I have already said. The principle of sensitive products was recognized in 2004. The countries most closely aligned to our position are the G10 countries, including Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Israel and Korea. All continents are represented in th

Agriculture committee  Allow me to add to my colleague's answer. There is no doubt that we have allies on the question of sensitive products. Several European countries, as well as Japan, are members of the G10. These are all countries that are determined to protect certain commodities. The Europeans

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, I would like to begin by recalling why Canada established the supply management system 30 years ago. Over 30 years ago, the Canadian and Quebec supply management systems were originally set up to stabilize farm incomes and end t