Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture.
According to an unsigned study referred to by chairman of the no committee Daniel Johnson, Quebec would lose no less than a third of its 11,000 dairy farms by voting yes. This doomsday scenario was immediately denied by Claude Lafleur, director of the Union des producteurs agricoles and labelled by him as "catastrophist, extremist and improbable".
Will the minister admit that it is in the interest of producers and the milk processing industry to reach an agreement with Quebec in order to preserve the system of supply management, particularly as protection against American competition, as all those involved in this sector are aware?