We can definitely attribute a certain part of the harm to quotas. It's forced up the price of farms in recent years; that's true. However, supply management is a system that enables producers to market milk and to have income security. It's a system that's worth something for producers, but also for the government and the Canadian population. The fact that citizens don't have to pay tax to support the system has a certain value, I believe. Producers have definitely invested in it, and the price has risen, which has also forced up the price of businesses. In Quebec, we recently made the decision to cap quota prices to prevent speculation. Within three years, I believe, the price will fall to $25,000, which is fair and very reasonable. I don't believe it's really the system that's forced up the price of land and quotas. Instead I think that's more attributable to the fact that there's little revenue in the businesses. Back home, we had little income, so we tried to grow the businesses; we tried to buy out the neighbour. That's the way it was virtually everywhere because our farm incomes no longer gave us a decent living. Net business income was very low.
On April 25th, 2007. See this statement in context.