Mr. Chairman, I'm going to say that despite certain problem areas like CAIS, the APF has been a real stabilizing force. I think for long-term planning, going more than just one or two years down the road, you need to design national programs and delivery systems for at least a five- to ten-year timeframe.
The interesting thing with CAIS is that I think we could have solved a lot of our problems had we delivered the program here in B.C. Winnipeg has been our huge stumbling point all along. The APF did some very good work in terms of areas of food safety and the environment with rolling out the environmental farm plan program.
But one area that really needs concentration is this whole idea of renewal. It really didn't get a lot of focus in the first APF, but do we create a separate pillar for renewal? I think if you make all the pillars of the APF strong, you make the program strong. If you make the programs responsive, and responsive in such a way that you develop sustainability in agriculture, maybe we'll finally attract the young people that we so desperately need all across this country. In every community where farming is a mainstay, we need to find ways to attract newcomers to the industry, because it's pretty scary when the average age is 58 years.
That's just a bit of a plug; it wasn't in my presentation. But please look at renewal as being extremely important, because the producer base is eroding, and who is going to be the next generation of farmers? Ask yourselves that.