Well, thank you, Chair. You say three minutes, so we have to get moving fast.
Welcome, Minister. Regardless of our party lines, I think we all agree you're a wonderful chap, and it's always good to have you here.
Mr. Fonseca, that line “If you ate, you can thank a farmer”, we know that, but I think we can extend that. I have a little farm, and I see some of the machinery we have. It's getting pretty amazing as well. We had better thank a manufacturer, but that manufacturer knows that tractor wouldn't run without the oil, so we had better thank the people in the oil industry, too.
Here's what I want to talk to you about: I want to talk to you about pipelines. Of all things, why would we talk about them? We talk about them because in this country we have an oil industry that's going down the tubes. I suggest to you, sir, that if that happens, it is going to affect the farm gate in an incredibly negative manner.
I want to know, and I want to get a commitment from you as the Minister of Agriculture, with the important and the powerful portfolio that you hold, that you will take the government to task and say that we need to get these pipelines built. I'll finish with one final point. The fact that we have low oil prices today is a curse because there isn't the investment being made. Once the glut is gone, we will see the oil price spike like we did in 2008.
Would you care to comment on that and make a commitment to this committee and to these MPs that you will fight for pipelines?