Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question regarding the closure of one of these facilities.
Of course it has been necessary to rationalize research facilities throughout Canada. This is not just in agriculture. It deals with industry. It deals with technology. In all kinds of aspects we have had to wonder whether we need bricks and mortars in different parts of the country.
Technology and research do not necessarily need a building. I notice that much of our technology can be done out of people's houses these days. Whether we have bricks and mortars in Quebec or bricks and mortars in Manitoba is somewhat irrelevant to say the least. I note also that the agricultural facility here
in Ottawa is downsizing. In fact, a lot of its facilities have been transferred to the province of Quebec.
The member has an interest in lambs and sheep but I must confess that I am not competent to discuss this matter. I would suggest that there is possibly a degree of rationalizing. Clearly we cannot be competitive in all agricultural products; we must pick those areas in which we can excel.
I am not saying that is not true for lambs and sheep, but I suspect there are only so many industries within the agricultural sector in which we can effectively compete. This area has a lot of competition from Australia and New Zealand. I would have to study how efficient our industry is relative to theirs to answer the question properly.