That is pretty much the situation. We have received some invitations from the new minister, but it pretty well stops there. In the case of Quebec, as I mentioned, we have been waiting three years already, and people are really running out of steam. Clearly, we discussed the situation of Ontario producers, which is definitely not rosy. Nor is their future, based on the news we hear that Imperial Tobacco would like to get out of the market.
We have been living with this situation since 2003. The program provides for round tables; that is all there is. We have no promises or even a compensatory budget on an urgent basis—we have nothing like that. In many cases, people do not know what money they will have for 2007. Some experiments that worked and that produced significant incomes such as replacement crops that are very similar to those in Quebec and that Mr. Bannister spoke about are simply not very common. Even the 25% of farmers who have changed crops have only very average subsistence incomes. Even for them, it is difficult to continue expanding. Others are still at the stage of doing research and development. I spoke about my own case, but there are many others who, like myself, have run into walls.
On the other hand, we were talking about hope. There is hope. For example, I am just back from a trip to Winnipeg where I attended the 4th Canadian conference of people interested in growing hemp. I am referring to the hemp market, which is growing in Canada. In Manitoba, almost 50,000 acres are devoted to hemp production. There have been some experiments in Quebec that seem quite promising. We have contacts with a number of manufacturers and processors. Once again, we want to set up a cooperative. We are halfway there, but it is difficult to go further, to get producers who have already been burned to take an interest in this. So we have to ensure we have some support and political will.
In our region, our political representatives and members of all provincial political parties are showing a great deal of interest. However, at the federal level, as I was saying, we are still at the round table stage. We have not yet started finding solutions.
That is why we wanted to tell you about our views, which are somewhat different than those in Ontario. However, I do think that Ontario producers will be experiencing the same situation shortly, that is more people will be affected.