Before I continue my conversation with Mr. Nelsen, I would like to comment on one of Blake's suggestions. He said that he heard a lot of farmers saying that they would like to see a kind of dual market, at least when it comes to the Canadian Wheat Board. However, to my great surprise, in the Canadian West, where the constituencies of three of my colleagues are located, many more farmers say that they want the Canadian Wheat Board's single-desk operations to continue. I know that when that issue is raised here, the discussion gets very heated. I'm not trying to fuel the debate, but I just want to put things in perspective. I recommend that you read all the testimonies we heard when we visited Canadian provinces in an attempt to resolve the young farmers issue. If you do that, you will see that many farmers defended the Canadian Wheat Board. I say this because in Quebec, we have the supply management system, which is very important for us. We support letting farmers decide for themselves. In fact, farmers are the ones who should make the decisions. Regardless, I have heard a number of people speak out in favour of single-desk operations.
Mr. Nelsen, I pointed out earlier that you are a consultant. My question was meant to steer our discussion in a specific direction. When you meet with people to give them financial advice, is there a federal entity assisting young farmers to which you can refer them? In fact, I have some idea of the answer to that question. There is no real program or facilitator that is exclusively dedicated to assisting young farmers. I would like your opinion on a few of my suggestions. Since you are a financial consultant, they could possibly be of interest to you.
What I have in mind are tax solutions. For instance, we could introduce a transfer savings plan. It would be somewhat similar to the existing education savings plan. It would enable farmers to accumulate tax-sheltered retirement funds. Of course, the federal government could contribute as well. Why would this kind of program be important? In many cases, when people have the opportunity to take over the family farm, to take over the land and the facilities, they are faced with the fact that everything is extremely expensive and they are unable to cover the costs of upkeep. Bank representatives who testified before us said that they lent money to everyone, and at very advantageous interest rates at that. They claim they are being generous, but I'm not buying it. The banks cannot fix this problem. In conclusion, it is very difficult for young farmers to take over their family farms.
Another option current owners have is to sell the farm at a loss to their children. That is to say, to sell it for much less money than it is worth. The idea there is to help the new generation take over. Ultimately, it is either the children who will struggle taking over the farm, or the parents who will suffer huge financial losses through the take-over process. A transfer savings plan would perhaps balance things out somewhat.
In addition, I have heard that a plan could be introduced for people interested in buying farmland. A similar plan already exists for prospective home buyers. We could introduce a similar plan for young farmers, which would apply to farm purchases. A young person who wants to go into farming could use the plan to buy a farm. Of course, it would help if the federal government transferred to the provinces an envelope designated specifically for young farmers. These financial measures would perhaps not be that complicated to implement. Do you think that initiatives like this might make your work easier and that they are a good idea?