Members of the Committee, to begin with I would like to thank you for your invitation to appear before this committee.
The Association des producteurs de tabac jaune du Québec 2203, whom I represent, counts 49 members. They are growers or ex-growers who have quit tobacco production by taking the Federal government's TAAP program.
Last year, the members of our association, represented by Mr. Christian Boisjoly, deposited a brief which explained the different steps in the tobacco crisis.
I was co-chair of the round table put into effect by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food of Canada. The position of the Quebec growers was well understood by the members of the round table. At the end of our discussions, the Honourable Bob Speller announced the TAAP program on May 4, 2004. Unfortunately, the $67 million of the program was not enough to meet the specifics of the Quebec quota system.
After a year of discussions, it was imperative to put in place the TAAP program with the understanding that the Agriculture Minister at that time would continue with a process to elaborate another program but on a long-term basis. Even though there were different meetings with the Minister's representatives, Mr. Donald Boucher, to name one, it does not seem that a program is in preparation.
The four Quebec growers who preferred to continue with tobacco production have to put an end to production this year. Their buyer has not renewed his contracts this year and the 2007 inventories have not all been shipped.
It is more and more difficult for Quebec growers to keep their farms in production. The cost of converting to other crops was enormous and 2007 was a catastrophe for exports.
We truly believed that the Minister of Agriculture of the time, the Honourable Chuck Strahl, would put a program in place for the tobacco growers as mentioned in his letter addressed to me and dated September 26, 2006.
I am here today to inform this Committee that the Quebec tobacco file is not complete and we are still waiting for an invitation from the Federal government to participate in a process to examine possible solutions on a long-term basis.
I thank you for your time and please accept my distinguished salutations. I am prepared to answer any questions you wish to ask me. Thank you.