Agriculture Committee on Nov. 17th, 2009

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

That's fine. You don't usually pay attention to agriculture issues, but that's par for the course with this government.

The minister sloughed off the response. But if there's anything that shows a lack of support for the agricultural industry, it is Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's performance report itself. The fact....

I hear a member on the other side saying it's irrelevant. No, it is not. The whole thrust of my remarks is that if young farmers are going to come into this industry, one, they need to see a government that supports the industry—this one does anything but, and there has never been a government that has neglected the industry so badly—and two, the industry itself has to be healthy. If any part of the industry is unhealthy right now, it is hogs and beef.

I'll now go back to the performance report.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Is this relevant to the motion?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Yes, it is, because of government expenditures. The bottom line is whether there is support from the government for this industry. Obviously there is not. Under business risk management in the performance report, which the department itself tables as an assessment of the security of the food system—

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I have a point of order. There is a question of relevance here. We're talking about a motion that has to do with a study of young farmers. I sense a filibuster. If Mr. Easter feels so strongly about this issue, he should vote against the motion. That is how he will speak loudest. Let's move on with the vote. This is important committee work, and he is filibustering.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Okay, Mr. Lemieux.

Mr. Easter.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

This is not a filibuster. This is laying a foundation for an assessment of government support for young farmers coming into the industry. We are trying to find out what the government needs to do.

In the performance report—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

I have a point of order. In Marleau and Montpetit, the rules of relevance begin on page 530, chapter 13. We're debating a motion about the possibility of a study. Mr. Easter wants to start the study right now, and that is fine, after the motion passes and the committee begins its work. But until then, you should not be allowing any of these interventions by Mr. Easter.

Let's talk about the motion. Let's vote on the motion and continue with our business. Witnesses will be here later. You have a number of motions—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Mr. Bezan, you need to know that on any motion, whether we like the rules or not, every committee member can speak.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

That's right, but you have to be relevant. There are rules for debate and you need to enforce them.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

I'm sure Mr. Easter will take your advice and finish off what he's doing.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Absolutely. I believe at 4:30 we are starting with witnesses, so we have considerable time to debate this issue and vote on it.

As I was saying, the fact of the matter is that on business risk management programs for the hogs and beef industry, in which many young farmers in my riding are participating, the government cut back on income support by $961,400,000. That's a serious issue at a time when the hog and beef industry is facing the worst crisis, certainly in hogs, that we've ever had in Canadian history. The government doesn't use the funding that is available to it under business risk management.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We're back to another point of order.

Mr. Hoback.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Again, Mr. Chair, as my colleague said, it's about relevance. He just keeps wandering and wandering.

And I can understand, Mr. Chair. I know you understand the importance of young farmers and getting them in the industry. Why would we waste the committee's time with this type of irrelevance? Let's get to the motion and let's move forward and deal with this motion.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

As the chair, I hope we will get to that.

And we also have Carol Hughes with us. Welcome to our committee.

She would like to speak on it too.

So Mr. Easter, perhaps you can do your best, and then we can finish up with our speakers and we can vote on this.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Yes, we will stay on topic.

One of the key issues for young farmers coming into the industry is in fact to have a secure safety net program. If you recall, there was a lot of criticism over CAIS. The new government said they would scrap that. All they did was change the name and it became a new name, AgriStability. In fact, what we're learning now is that in the beef and hog sector, which can hopefully be a potentially strong industry again, very few qualify.

This committee, when I believe Mr. Bezan was chair, in terms of trying to provide some security to the industry as a whole, including security that young people could feel confident coming into the industry, made some recommendations in terms of what could be done to make the safety net system work better. Of course those recommendations were never lived up to by this Government of Canada. But worse yet, what we're finding out now is that the cheques rolling out under that AgriStability program, which was supposed to replace the scrapped CAIS, are only 60% of what was expected.

So here, Mr. Chair, is a real dilemma for young people coming into the industry. The safety nets that the government had claimed they were going to bring into place are not in fact there to be good safety nets, to give some young people some assurance coming into the industry.

To add to that, if we recall what the Prime Minister said during the election, he promised there would be a cost of production program starting at $100 million a year. Cost of production really sounds good. If you're a young farmer coming into the industry, then, “Man, I'm going to get my cost of production. I'm going to be all right. I'll be secure.” But it's another case of the Prime Minister breaking his word, of cost of production never being delivered, and in fact, it was given the slice entirely during the last budget, and cost of production no longer is on the government agenda. It's just another case of the Prime Minister, as I said, breaking his word.

Then, of course, AgriFlexibility is something that--

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

A point of order.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

A point of order, Mr. Storseth.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

If you'll give me a moment, I'll give Mr. Easter a chance to have a glass of water for a second.

I'd like to point out once again the sanctimoniousness of Mr. Easter. In July 2005 he tabled a report that dealt with what he perceived as being issues with the agriculture industry in our country. In that report he did talk about his recommendations for young farmers. On page 31, it reads “That governments consult primary producers and their representatives in the design and review of farm support programs.” It's done.

On page 32--

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Mr. Storseth, I don't think it's a point of order, but--

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Mr. Chair, if you'll just give me an opportunity. I don't know how you can rule on relevance until I'm finished.

It reads: “That the federal government improve Canada’s pesticide licensing process and specifically the performance of the Pest Management Review Agency.” That's done.

“Those Canadian governments pursue bilateral and regional trade agreements to provide more targeted market access for Canadian products.” That's done.

“That governments undertake campaigns to educate citizens about the benefits provided to the country by Canadian agriculture.” That's done.

“That the federal government act to differentiate “made-in-Canada” food products--”

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

This is not a point of order. Mr. Storseth--

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

There are two more pages, and Mr. Easter is just upset that our government and our minister actually have done something, when he sat on his hands for 14 years.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Mr. Storseth, yours is not a point of order, and I think Mr. Easter is getting off track a bit.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

I was just getting to the relevant thing. The best part is still to come, Mr. Chair.