I'd like to carry on from what I've said. I know that in all good faith Mr. St. Amand has been working very hard on this problem too. I will say that there even were pieces of truth in what Mr. Easter said.
I agree that we need to find a solution to the problem we're talking about here today. I think the amendment Mr. Lauzon originally moved brought us closer to being able to break the problem into its parts. There are many parts, not just the actual growers of tobacco.
I have many friends and neighbours who certainly grow tobacco still. I've been working very hard for a solution for them, through hundreds of meetings with the tobacco board, meetings with those producers, and yes, Mr. Easter, even meetings with bankers to talk to them about what's happening on the ground. I know--and some of you would say it's from experience--that the easiest way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. This is a very big problem, and it needs to be taken care of one problem at a time.
As you stated, I'm currently trying to steer a task force on the economic development portion of this area, the five-county area that grew tobacco in southern Ontario, looking at it from the point of view that it's a single-industry area. It's like a single-industry town. Mr. Boshcoff, you'd know this from some of the lumber things. This is a community that has relied, from an economic point of view, on one product for a number of years. The area was very affluent. The product did very well for the area. It's not there any more. For many reasons the economy has gone away.
Through a task force of mayors and economic development officers, we're looking at another way to deal with the economy for that area, looking at what existing programs are in place from government, and even to the point of looking at what other transitional crops there are and what other things we can grow in that sandy soil where tobacco used to grow. We know that's one side of the problem.
I believe Mr. St. Amand mentioned at the start of his comments that around the world there have been other strategies to replace tobacco, and they've all included different formulas. Some of them involved manufacturers, some of them involved governments, some of them involved tobacco growers themselves determining that they're going to leave the business.
I'm suggesting, and Mr. Lauzon's amendment stated very clearly, that this is about working together with all the stakeholders, and not just imposing a government solution on the problem. I tend to agree with that. We have to move forward with all the partners: growers, manufacturers, communities, and federal and provincial governments. These growers have licensed quota under the Ontario provincial government. I'm not ruling them out as being part of the solution. I think that's the point. We need to move forward.
I have to commend Mr. St. Amand for his move forward, but having it be singularly focused as only a federal government solution, I can't support it. I know my friends and neighbours are in the same straits as his friends and neighbours. We have to find a way to solve this problem by working together and not by nitpicking or picking it apart and sledge-hammering a solution through.
Mr. Chair, I hope we can find a way to make the motion have a better solution than it does, just being singularly focused.