In looking at history, there have been a number of programs that have worked reasonably well; crop insurance is one of them, and supply management has worked well. We know that GRIP, in those provinces that had it, worked reasonably well. NISA worked well for those people who had some money to put into the program. So moving forward we have some lessons to take from programs we don't have anymore. We also know that the CAIS program, which was to be one program to fit all, doesn't work in that form and context because of the variables we have in this country.
I'm just wondering, given the things that happen in agriculture, is there a consensus that margin-based programs probably are not the direction we should be going? That would be something I'd like comments on.
I'm also wondering how you feel about production insurance that is somewhat similar to what they have in Quebec. They have the ASRA program. It's costly, but they know it's bankable. We keep hearing that it has to be bankable and predictable, and that certainly is.
Then we get back to the component of whether the consumer pays for the public good. If it's for the public good, how do we find those dollars? I put that question forward a few years back—simply to get discussion on the issue—when I proposed a food tax. I heard a number of times last week that perhaps we should call it an ecotax. Well, call it whatever you want, but from talking to them, I think consumers are prepared to do something for us. We, as farmers, are afraid of our own shadow when it comes to these things. We're afraid that people will stop buying our food. They will buy whatever they want. The people who buy organic food products pay a premium price, and it's not only rich people who buy that product. People make consumer choices.
I'd like to have some ideas from you for when we go forward. We talked about whether it should be one government delivering the service. We know that one size doesn't fit all. How can we take the best from what we've had? I think maybe we need to look south and see what kind of a model they have, because it seems to be working for them. But they have one farm plan, and that's one thing I think we should take into consideration.
I'd like to have a quick fix to this, and I know that one size doesn't fit all. But please, can we eliminate the things we don't want and mention some of the things we think might be a starting point for us going forward.