Mr. Speaker, I have had some experience with farming. This time of year we would normally be out on the land cultivating. Most of the farmers in Durham are doing just that. I sometimes wonder if they are not better off than I am sitting in the House.
In my riding of Durham one in five jobs is food related; 2.8 per cent of provincial milk production is from farmers in Durham. Our grain sales are over $10.5 million. We have won worldwide acclaim for livestock and crops. One can see farming is no strange animal to the people of Durham.
One million, eight-hundred thousand Canadians are engaged in the vocation of agriculture. It accounts for 8 per cent of gross domestic product and 15 per cent of the Canadian workforce, clearly a very important industry.
Agriculture is a shared jurisdiction and there are some very good reasons for that. This has occurred from the time of Confederation and continues today. One thing we have in common is we all must eat. Clearly it is very important to produce our agricultural products efficiently, to transport them effectively and to continue Canada's excellent reputation in the export of agricultural products.
I will discuss quickly how in some ways Quebec benefits by this shared jurisdiction. The argument laid out today is that somehow the agricultural sector of Quebec has been subsidizing some other aspect of agriculture within the country.
In 1990, Quebec-these are total government spending and taxation figures-received $35.1 billion in federal government spending. It paid $24.5 billion in taxes. Clearly there is no subsidization process here. This is just a trick with numbers taking one aspect of that spending and taxation system and expanding it to make a big argument.
Quebec benefits in many other ways. In the GATT negotiation our government argued very strongly and very effectively to protect our supply managed industries. High tariff walls will prevent a quick reduction in commodity prices in Canada. All farmers in Canada have benefited but certainly the people in Durham, a large dairy farming area, have expressed their appreciation for what the Government of Canada did for them. I am sure Quebec dairy farmers feel similarly.
When the supply management system was established in Canada, of the industrial milk quota, Quebec had 48 per cent of the industrial milk production. That is what is owned currently by Quebec farmers.
In research and development, and we have touched very briefly on that subject, I have an interesting quote from the member for Quebec East, the agricultural critic of the Bloc: "There is no doubt that with regard to research Quebec is not unfairly treated at agriculture Canada". Clearly even the Bloc has recognized it is not unfairly treated within our federation.
The federal government spends approximately $360 million in Quebec in the area of agriculture. Quebec's agricultural production which it sells within the country is three times
greater than what it exports. Clearly Canada is a major market for Quebec produce. Over one-third of the total production of Quebec agriculture is sold within Canada. Much more of that is consumed within the province. Canada is a major consumer of Quebec products.
The federal government today has 1,400 employees engaged in Quebec assisting with agriculture. By reducing subsidies, and I believe this is the essence of the motion before us, we will increase flexibility within the agricultural sector.
This is what the members of the Bloc have been arguing for over the last year; reduce grain subsidies, reduce transportation subsidies to the west. That is what we have done. The Bloc today should be rejoicing rather than having motions of this type complaining about the fact that it has happened now.
By reducing subsidies we are giving farmers the ability to be more innovative, to produce value added crops in Canada. Why do we ship raw materials all over the world while other people ship us finished goods? This is something Quebec and western farmers, indeed all farmers in Canada, have to address.
The farmers in my riding have not complained about the 30 per cent reduction in the subsidies for industrial milk production. They do not like it but they understand it and they are less concerned about it. When the budget came down they told me to make sure the negotiated stand by the government for them under GATT is maintained.
In 1993 Quebec's agri-food industry reached $1.2 billion, 9 per cent of the total Canadian market proceeds. In the last 12 years Quebec farm income has risen 67 per cent. Quebec farmers have the highest per capita income of all farmers in Canada. Here they are complaining about agriculture. It seems odd to me.
Let us get back to discussing co-operative federalism and why this is a shared jurisdiction. The report by the Government of Quebec only last year showed that the two levels of government work well together. This was its concluding remarks. Overlap and duplication are minimal, estimated to be less than 1 per cent of combined federal-provincial spending.
In July 1994 the federal and provincial agriculture ministers reaffirmed their commitment to work together to ensure that agricultural exports in Canada will reach $2 billion by the year 2000. Canada at one time had 3.5 per cent of the entire global agricultural trade. This has slipped over the last two years. This joint federal and provincial task force has reset those goals to take Canada back into the area of 3.5 per cent of global agricultural trade. A federal-provincial development council has been established in order to reach these goals.
This creates one single window of opportunity so that all aspects of agriculture in Canada will be able to market their programs internationally. Indeed the federal government has donated and committed 50 full time federal employees to attempt to penetrate 150 foreign markets throughout the world.
In summary, by continuing to co-operate federally and provincially to solve the problems of agriculture, to work on our research budgets, hopefully not meaner, but leaner and more effectively, will make Canada a world leader in agricultural product marketing. It will also make for a more efficient industry within our borders.