As most of you might know, I am the founder of Magna International, which I started in a garage and built up into a company of over 170,000 employees.
Then, 12 years ago, I decided I would get out of the big car business and go into agriculture. The more I got into agriculture, the more I saw this huge chemical jungle. We know that approximately 95% of the we food eat comes from industrial farms. On industrial farms, you see no more eagles flying, for the simple reason that there are no more rabbits and no more pheasants. We kill everything. The pesticides, fungicides and herbicides get into the air, and we breathe the air; they get into the water, and we drink the water; they get into the soil, and we eat the food grown in the soil.
Family farms were always the backbone of Canada. A country that can feed itself will never have a problem, but family farms are practically on welfare. The children of family farmers say, “Mom, Dad, I don't want to be in farming. I don't want to be on welfare.”
There are so many indications and statistics that practically all kids have allergies. There has been an enormous increase in the number of type 2 diabetics cases, and autism is on the rise. Most well-to-do families feed their kids organic foods, but I believe in a Canada where every kid has an equal chance to grow up healthy. That is not the case anymore under these circumstances.
My recommendations are, one, that no Canadian kid should go to school hungry, which means breakfast has to be served; two, no Canadian kid should leave school hungry; and three, the law should state that the food served in schools has to be organic.
When people say we cannot afford to feed organic food to our children, I do believe that is a very poor statement to make because the medical cost savings would outweigh the cost of producing organic foods.
I believe Canada should take a closer look at how family farms can survive. They could survive and do well if Canada had a special program to support family farmers who grow organic foods. I hope the Minister of Agriculture takes a serious look at my recommendations. The subject is very dear to my heart. It is important that all Canadian kids have a chance to grow up healthy and happy.
I will make myself available to go into more detail on how to grow healthy foods for Canadians.
Thank you.