Those are all good points, Alex. I certainly share your concern that producers need to be involved. I've pushed for that. We have it in the bill. I welcome your intervention on their behalf.
The problem we're having at this point is that producers--and speaking as one, I'm condemning myself as well--tend to be short-sighted. Last year everybody was hot to do this, because prices were down. This year prices are up, and they're saying, hey, I'm getting my money out of the marketplace; I don't need to invest in anything else.
A case in point is that of a small facility, for 25 million litres. It's going up in my riding at Unity. It's totally producer-driven. They've raised the money. We kicked in a little bit as the federal government under our programs, but they're already talking expansion. They've just had the facility closed in, and the tanks going. They're already contracting product for next fall, and they're already talking expansion because they see the light at the end of the tunnel. Those are forward-thinking producers, and that's who's going to take charge of this program and run it forward.
At the same time, there are other communities that are having trouble raising the money because their farmers are saying “The marketplace is paying. I'm going to Arizona. Don't bother me.” And I condemn them for that. I hope the media puts that in their papers, because it is just so short-sighted by these producers to think that one year of good prices is going to be the be-all and end-all. Everybody else tells me, from the American model or wherever they're doing it, that in the good years the farm pays the bills, and in the bad years the diversification into those other facilities pays the bills. So farmers have to start thinking big picture and longer term, and most of them are. That's that point.
I welcome your support and your party's support. You finally seem to get the idea that we need a global commitment to greenhouse gas, and not have just Canada running alone. We do need the Brazils onside, we do need the Chinas onside if we're going to make this work. That's been the thrust of what Minister Baird took to Bali, and he was condemned for it by the short thinkers, by the short-sighted folks.
I couldn't agree with you more that there's a lot of palm oil being produced. There's a lot of sugar cane being put into Brazil. But if we get our act together here, we can offset a lot of that and actually save the rainforest in Brazil, because we're doing our own ethanol. We're not going to rely on them to do it.
I think you have something there, and you may want to take that back to your next convention and explain to the people on the floor that with Canadian production, we can help save the rainforest. We can help start to make a difference to the palm oil suppliers, and I welcome that.
You're saying it's not a done deal, and we should study it some more. The problem I have with that is that it's counterproductive to helping Brazil and helping the rest of the world by developing a product here in Canada. We have the resources. We have 47 million arable acres in Saskatchewan alone that are crying for options other than food-line products. So I think this is a natural for Canada. I think it's past time.
I don't disagree that we need to study and renew and innovate as we move along. I don't think we have to make the mistakes that the Americans did or didn't make. I think we can develop our own, and that's why these amendments are to our acts, to our producers, and not to the American studies.
Is big oil taking over? That's always a possibility. But with the legislation and the way we've put it together, farmers get the first shot, and the subsidies and so on are tied to producer involvement. That's not going to change. I guess that's why Mr. Easter supports this bill and said let's get it done. If I bring it to the House this afternoon for unanimous consent, I'd be happy to have you stand up and support it.