Thank you.
I speak in support of the bill.
I am originally from the Netherlands as a dairy farmer. I have been living in Canada for the last 35 years as a dairy farmer and beef producer.
It is timely to have a bill like this. We are now in three or four decades of international policies focusing on trade agreements. Those were important years and probably important agreements, but in the meantime, our system has deteriorated. We are now losing 18% of our domestic market, as we heard the previous speaker say.
It is time that we have a close look at that again. I believe the circumstances have changed. There are fallacies that have come into this notion that free trade is good for all of us.
If we look at CETA, we find new concessions for the importation of cheese. Canada has lived up to that commitment in full. In exchange for that, we had further access for beef and pork into Europe.
If we look at the actual numbers, they are not panning out very well. We do export to Europe, but even at the time of the agreement, there was way more room to export in the agreement, but we've never filled it. With our rapid commitment to allow European cheese into Canada, we have not seen any step-up of this increased importation of Canadian pork or beef by Europe.
We need to be less eager to sign trade agreements with partners if they are not eager to live up to them. I think Canada is a boy scout when it comes to positive attitudes toward more trade, but we need to be critical of that. Like I said, circumstances have changed.
I have many friends in Europe who are dairy producers. They do reasonably well. They are not aware of how much cheese comes into Canada from their production, because the European policy-makers are protecting their industry in other ways. It's time we realize that in Canada.
It is the same with friends in the U.S. who produce milk. They have mailbox cheques coming in to support their bottom line, which we don't have in Canada. We don't need them as long as we are committed to our system.
Like I said, the circumstances have changed. We now have supply problems in the economy. It looks like they are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. What aggravates it further is unpredictable weather with more erratic extremes. I'd like to point out what was happening in the Lower Mainland a year and a half ago. We had an atmospheric river coming from the Pacific Ocean, bringing us extraordinary amounts of water.
In the last four decades, the Lower Mainland has attracted more and more B.C. dairy and chicken quotas. There is a heavily concentrated production taking place in that area, yet this inundation of water and complete elimination of functioning farms did not disrupt supplies of products out of the supply-managed sector. It was the organization, provincial and interprovincial, that was foremost responsible for that steady supply to consumers.
We also have demographic issues. The average age of a farmer in Canada is very high, yet in supply management there is a way healthier situation. This is because of our commitment to long-term sustainability in the system.
I'd like to point out the possible greedflation that is taking place in the grocery sector. The best answer is a regulated system in which prices are transparent and visible.
I'd like to come to the conclusion here that we cannot allow further deterioration of the system. We need to strengthen it, and it doesn't have to be at the expense of other commodities that need more trade.
Thank you.