Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food meets regularly with industry leaders, including l'Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec.
These discussions have led to legislative amendments to the Western Grain Transportation Act which were tabled in December. These amendments will ensure better use of scarce taxpayer dollars as well as protect our producers from potentially damaging trade actions.
While important, Bill C-66 will not be sufficient in itself to fix all that ails our grain handling and transportation system. Broader reforms are necessary for four very strong reasons.
First, we must deal with the harsh reality of fiscal limitations and the battle against the debt and deficit. Second, we must comply with the requirements of the new GATT agreement with respect to the disciplines that apply to trade distorting subsidies. Third, we need to unlock new grain handling and transportation efficiencies leading to a lower cost and faster system overall.
Fourth, we need to foster greater agricultural diversification and a trend toward more value added processing.
To accomplish these objectives the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Minister of Transport have been conducting two sets of comprehensive consultations for all the players in the Canadian grain handling and transportation system. This will go far to solving the problem.