There are a lot of other challenges that face not just young farmers but all farmers in Canada. I want to touch on that somewhat.
As mentioned earlier today, there's an unlevel playing field for producers within Canada--for example, between Ontario and some other provinces. Quebec had the largest percentage of the country's sow herd but yet had the lowest percentage that participated in the buyout program--because of Quebec's ASRA program, of course. The ASRA program guarantees Quebec's agriculture producers their cost of production. How can we compete with that in Ontario? It's hard to believe we can have such a difference in support within one country.
We seem to have a lot stricter export rules than import standards. They should be the same. A lot of our products leave the country produced under very strict rules, yet a lot of imports do not meet our quality standards and regulations.
If the U.S. implements COOL, why can we not do the same? We know the government challenged the COOL law, but it will take years before the WTO will reach a verdict on the dispute. In the meantime, could we have an interim Canadian COOL law in effect?
We have to streamline rules and regulations with the U.S. and between provinces. There is too much red tape in Canada versus the U.S. New pharmaceutical chemical products take too long to be approved in Canada versus the U.S. We know that those products have to be checked out, but processes have to be somewhat sped up.
Something else to think about is maybe supporting supply management when negotiating free trade. It could result in being excluded from free trade deals for other agricultural products. We're saving one sector and hurting many others. Maybe there has to be some give and take there.
Government does not owe its farmers a living, but it does need to supply them with proper legislation and policies and a level playing field for us to be able to make a living.
Thanks again, everybody, for the opportunity.