Thank you. Good, I am the only one not wearing an earpiece. Usually, it is the reverse.
Mr. Hanson, I appreciate your testimony. I have been on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food for five years, and I have the feeling you are the youngest witness we have ever heard from. That is the case for me, anyways. Perhaps someone like Mr. Eyking, who was here before me, can think of other presentations, but yours was very interesting and, at the same time, it echoed somewhat what we have already heard. We did not start meeting with young people yesterday. The committee began its study yesterday out west, but we have been meeting with the next generation of farmers, young farmers, for years now. And what you said is very much in line with what we have been hearing for several years, namely, that it is nearly impossible to take over a farm. This is less of an issue among farmers who practice supply management, but apart from that, the same problem always comes up. The land is very expensive. If parents want to get a price that reflects the value and they wish to pass the farm on to a son or daughter, obviously that son or daughter cannot afford to buy it. If the parents sell the farm at a lower price, their retirement fund goes out the window. So this is a problem that young farmers have to face.
You said that taking over the family farm nowadays is not necessarily a good idea. A few years back, the Bloc Québécois held a symposium on the next generation of farmers in Quebec, and it gave rise to some possible solutions, some recommendations. Obviously, we are still discussing it today, so we did not find a solution. There is not just one solution, but several. We are happy to hear your suggestions.
I want to share with you a few of the recommendations that came out of the symposium, to see whether we cannot continue to urge the government to move forward on them. For example, today we can use our RRSPs, or registered retirement savings plans, in conjunction with the home buyers' plan, or the HBP, to buy a home. Young farmers suggested the possibility of using the HBP to buy a farm property, not just a home. They also suggested being able to use it to become co-owner of the farm. That would mean that a young person—of course, it would be hard at 17, but after a few years of investing in RRSPs—could use his investments to become co-owner of the farm with his parents through the HBP. And for the parents, it would represent a type of retirement savings plan, but for farmers specifically, so a tax-sheltered retirement fund that would accumulate over the years. As with a pension fund, the government could also contribute to this type of savings plan, as it does for the education savings plan. That way, if the fund were used to help the next generation of farmers, older farmers could keep some money for their retirement. That is one tax measure that would be relatively easy to adopt, that would not cost the government that much and that might give young people the leg-up they need to follow in their parents' footsteps.