This is a big country. There is considerable regional disparity from one region to the next. This disparity affects agriculture, since each area of the country is different. These differences can be quite marked, and the crops and needs are varied.
We are asking the federal government to recognize these differences with flexible programs that, through a global intervention strategy, will help to sustain farm incomes and make them more secure. We agree on the idea, but when it comes to the global strategy, we must be able to harmonize our programs and be flexible enough to address the regional characteristics of the producers. If these demands cannot be made within our regions, it will be difficult to do so at a federal level, with a country-wide approach.
In Quebec, we have developed a collective marketing approach which allows us to maximize our income. We strive to adjust our production to the market; we try to work out some type of arrangement with our producers and our distributors so that we can have a share of what the consumer regularly spends on food.
We are trying to get the best possible share for the producers. When that share falls short, support programs must pick up the slack. Their aim is to support farm income during critical times. That is what we are seeking in our programs in Quebec, that is what we want the federal government to recognize. We want to be part of a federal program that will give us enough flexibility to meet the needs of our regions.