Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, I am not a permanent member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. I am replacing Mr. Bellavance this morning.
I found this morning's discussions very interesting and I particularly appreciated the excellent brief presented by Mr. McDuff and Mr. Lacoste this morning. Not only do they demonstrate their concerns in this brief, but they even go so far as to make recommendations. I want to commend them on that.
I love the idea—and fully support it, Mr. Chairman—of identifying products that are grown or produced, processed and packaged in Canada by using a specific symbol, such as the maple leaf. As a member of the Bloc Québécois, I have to say I am not particularly keen on seeing a maple leaf on my cans of baked beans, cereal boxes and other items. At one point, the government would have paid a lot of money to companies to get them to use the maple leaf on their cans of baked beans, soft boiled eggs and pork tongue. In the bars, the maple leaf would have been everywhere. Some companies would have made a lot of money that way. You are offering them an absolute gold mine by allowing them to put a maple leaf on all Canadian products sold in grocery stores, at the meat counter and the fruit and vegetable counters.
Federalists have a golden opportunity here—namely, to endorse this idea wholeheartedly and include it in the report. We will support you, not because we love the maple leaf, but because it will be an opportunity for our Quebec and Canadian producers to create jobs, keep their businesses going, give work to people back home and encourage people to buy our own products.
If I have a choice between products made in Quebec, in the riding of my colleague, the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, or products that come from Thailand, I will choose products that come from her area, without hesitation. Maybe one day, in a less distant future than some may believe, we will see—although we would have to find some room for it on the can—a small fleur de lys.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.