My comments after hearing what took place last night are very harsh when it comes to the federal government. As we know, supply management today has basically been ruined. It has been ruined to the point where to take another practically 4% of the dairy industry out of our control is the ruination of rural Canada.
It's going to be the ruination of a lot of dairy farmers because every trade deal we've had to this point has been a sacrifice for supply management. It was 3% on CETA. I understand we're talking about nearly 4% on this. It was an about-face. It was two-faced of our federal government to tell us all along that they are supporting supply management when they sold us out yet again.
I'm getting very tired of hearing from all of our federal governments that they support supply management but are making concessions. There have been concessions made to the point where we as farmers cannot take it anymore economically. We are to the point now where our cost of production is 20% below what it should be. To add another 4%, as they are talking about now, basically eliminates the western dairy producers.
It's going to be harder for us here in the Maritimes too. It's not going to improve our bottom line. It's not going to improve the American farmers' bottom line. The ones who have been making a profit from all these trade negotiations are the processors. Meanwhile, as dairy farmers, we keep losing share in the market. We keep getting classes of milk that are of no benefit to us as producers. Without actual subsidizing of the dairy industry at this point, when it comes to us as farmers, we simply cannot afford to operate.