To continue on with Bill's comments, and obviously with due respect, we had presented quite a number of solutions, and I certainly had mentioned the biogas solution.
I don't want to rain on the parade of the grain farmers here either in terms of bioenergy. That's okay. That policy is in place, and it's going to stay.
But I think when we're talking about the damage that is being done to livestock, we can take it a step further on the biogas side. I agree with Bill that we need to put it on a farm level, that the farmers should get the income.
There was the announcement of the huge plant in Innisfail. I don't think that's farmer-owned. That isn't where the money should be going. The solution is that we ensure that the ownership is there.
And let me present one other solution. It may be controversial. I don't know. I know here in this province we have eco taxes. I'm not sure if it's Canadian or Albertan. We pay a tire tax of $4 a tire. When we buy computers, we pay a tax.
I would propose that an eco tax on food might not be such a bad idea, a 1% tax on all food purchased in this country. That would go back for environmental improvement directly to the farmers, and it would not be scooped up in between somewhere. It would go back to environmental improvements, to food safety, to traceability, and those issues that our consumers expect and that we, as producers, pay for. We get no more for our products, and you keep expecting us to foot the bill. Our income keeps dropping, and we get paid less.
By putting an eco tax of, say, 1% on it, the process would be in place. It's simple to put into place. Funnel the money directly back to farmers. That's the solution.