Evidence of meeting #44 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
What would help us is if they wouldn't have those programs.
4:55 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
--makes Ontario less competitive. We cannot compete against that because it basically guarantees a minimum cost price for your pigs, and we're way below that. If Quebec didn't have a system like that in place, we would be on a level playing field. Right now, we're not; we're competing against them.
5 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
That means that you have the choice between moving to Quebec or asking your government to give you access to the same program.
5 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
Yes, all right. It would be nice if it would be a little more equal all over Canada.
5 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Given the vast country that we have, it is our duty to encourage farmers to feed the people. Recently, the government of Quebec launched a campaign entitled “Put Quebec on your plate!“ No country, no province, no nation can survive if it has to depend on a foreign country to feed its people. I am having difficulty understanding why certain governments have not yet understood this.
Furthermore, I see that you, sir, whose name I forget, talked about supply management. This is a battle that we must never lose. It is not a system funded by governments; it is a system that guarantees income to people like you who work hard. I would like you to speak in praise of supply management. A lot of people are ill-informed about the matter and believe that this is subsidized by the government. That is not true.
Lastly, with regard to traceability, a traceability system does exist in Quebec. Is there one in Saskatchewan? I have no idea of the type of farm you have. Is it a dairy farm, is it a breeding operation?
5 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
Oh, you mean us? We have a sow farrowing operation, so we sell piglets at about five kilograms on average. We sell about 140,000 a year. So we're in the red meat industry.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
Thank you very much.
Earlier, my colleague was telling me that I could come here more often. I was brought up on a farm and we had goats. I would have liked to have taken over the farm, but I chose another profession. What you are faced with is therefore very familiar to me.
In Quebec, we made certain choices. We know that we are losing one farm per day. This therefore requires concerted action on the part of the government. Within the Quebec government, it is not just the Department of Agriculture that is working on this. There is also a policy aimed at youth. Work has already been done with regard to the next generation of women.
I am at present a participant in the gala and I strongly encourage training for women. It is also necessary to have a network of advisors allowing for the transfer of knowledge and providing technological assistance. Financial assistance is also required. As my colleague was saying, we need people who are ready to defend the mechanisms and systems that are in place. This requires concerted action, policies and money. Earlier, you were saying that our programs should not be. We are however fighting in order that these programs be provided to you.
As a woman, could you talk to us a bit about the situation of women? In my opinion, today, it is no longer possible to farm without talking about fairness and putting in place programs to support women in agriculture.
5 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
Yes, I think we do need programs to support women in agriculture. But living in Canada as we all do, it seems to me that it should be a little more the same for all the provinces, without such a big difference between Quebec and Ontario. Quebec has always supported their farmers, and Ontario has always lagged behind. Maybe there has been more money in Quebec, I don't know. It's nice for the Quebec farmers, but it hurts us a lot.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
Would you like to have $5 daycare, now that there is $7 daycare?
5 p.m.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
I thank you for having talked about the new generation. I believe that young people have an opinion in this regard.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
I have a small point of order. It is important to point out that the Quebec government just admitted that ASRA has put them $5 billion in the hole as a provincial government. There are policy changes coming on that front.
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
I could respond to Mr. Storseth.
It is true that ASRA has put us in a 5 million dollar hole, but the federal government has, since coming to power, granted 66 billion dollars.
I would like to know if you have a labour problem on your farms?
5:05 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
It's not too bad. Some times are a little harder than others, but overall, looking back over the years, I think we're doing okay.
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Everything is going well as far as the new generation is concerned?
5:05 p.m.
Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program
Sometimes it's hard to keep our employees around. It's not too hard to find new people, but we have to work hard to keep our people happy and keep them around.
