Thanks, Maria.
As Maria said, I am bringing forth a few national challenges from our membership. I'll go through them. They're identified as problems, and the answers are identified as solutions.
The first problem that was addressed by much of our membership was access to capital and funding requirements. The solution would be making it easier for young farmers to enter the industry by offering, and helping with, advance payments or guarantees on a maximum of a loan. Interest relief on the loan is a pretty good example there. We need support, especially when we're trying to convince a lending institution to believe in the agricultural industry in Canada and to make it work. Perhaps we could have a national young farmers' program or a national young farmers' strategy.
The next problem is rising input costs and declining farm returns. A solution would be capping costs from suppliers of electricity, fuel, and fertilizer. We all need to make money. However, if a company is guaranteeing a certain percentage to their shareholders, why are farmers stuck in the middle and footing the bill? Where is government to help protect our farmers against profiteering by these corporations?
Another problem is competitive regulation in the global marketplace. Canada is no longer a leading country in agricultural innovation and development. Government has essentially let our farmers down and let other countries control what food gets into Canada. Canada must protect its farmers against these regulations and challenge other countries to have the same protocol that's required of our producers, or not allow them access to our Canadian markets. The U.S. has done an excellent job at this with their country-of-origin labelling.
The next problem is a national food policy, or lack thereof. There is no national food policy in Canada. Canada needs a system that, at the end of the day, provides safe and healthy food for Canadians and a return for its farmers. Canada must adopt a policy that will inhibit imports of unsafe food, and allow its own backyard Canadian agriculturalists to thrive before imports are accepted. If food is imported, it must meet the same standards as our Canadian products.
The fifth problem is regarding a united Canadian approach, that is, about having a federal, provincial, and territorial mechanism. As we know, our Canadian provinces do not work well enough together. We're all aware that there are challenges in every province. There should be a mechanism made up of deputy ministers and senior agricultural officials who work together on a regular basis, to develop regional and national policy for this country, based on what's going on in individual provinces. The awareness gained from this program, we think, would have a tremendous impact, as all provinces would be supportive of each other and be informed about their individual problems.
The next problem is that Canadians don't understand the agricultural industry. Whether you're a government official, deputy minister, minister, or a regular citizen in Toronto, the general public do not understand the food system at all. This lack of education has allowed our society to become disconnected from the farm base, which does not help put pressure on our politicians or government when they come knocking on our doors for our vote.
If something ever happens to our food system and all of a sudden there's not enough food in the system to feed Canadians, who's going to step up to the plate?
Farmers in Canada are taken advantage of every day by consumers, suppliers, and corporations who essentially tell the farmers what they're going to be paid at the end of the day.
We'll move on now to our provincial challenges.