Okay. I'll just read the motion.
That the committee invite the Minister of Agriculture, department officials and poultry and egg stakeholders to provide an urgent update to the committee on the lack of action on promised programs from the government to support Canada’s poultry and egg farmers as a result of losses resulting from recent trade agreements.
Mr. Chair, the reason we bring this up to the committee at this time is that it has been more than a year now since the minister made some commitments to the industry to offer some compensation as a result of the CETA and the CPTPP. The federal budget also promised $3.9 billion in funding for dairy, poultry and egg farmers to deal with the impacts of those trade agreements. The commitment has already been made of $1.75 billion over eight years to Canada's dairy farmers to compensate for the CETA and CPTPP agreements. However, similar commitments have not been made to the poultry and egg producers across this country.
Now that we're in the midst of a global pandemic, which is not something any of us would have anticipated, it is having an impact on Canadian agriculture throughout the industry and across the country. Canada's poultry and egg producers are also feeling the impact of that, and that has been exacerbated by the lack of compensation and the inaction from the current government on a commitment that was made in the budget in 2019, and again reinforced by the minister in her comments after the meetings held last June and July. We're now more than a year past when those commitments were to be made, with no follow-up.
Our concern on this, as Conservatives, is this continuing narrative that Canadian agriculture is being neglected in various different ways, not only during COVID but certainly around compensation for these trade agreements that were signed by the current government. Our feeling in bringing this motion forward is to hear from the stakeholders on the impact that the trade agreements have had on their industry. We want to know what the impact has been, with not having the compensation that was promised to them by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture. Certainly, I think it's important for us at this committee to be their voice and to listen to their concerns and the impacts this is having on their industry, and also the impacts it's having on our supply chain.
I'm not the only one, I'm sure, who's had numerous calls, not only from producers but also from processors, who have been impacted by this as well. If they do not have the producers, who have spent years on genetics and investments, millions of dollars in investments in their operations, they are also going to be impacted.
That is the reason we have submitted this motion. I look forward to the support of my colleagues on this committee to discuss this and pass this, and have two or three meetings on this so that stakeholders can have their voices heard.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.