It is reassuring, Madam Speaker, that members other than Bloc Quebecois members have realized the importance of the rural agricultural industry in Quebec, especially dairy farming. It seems there is only one party in this House that does not realize the benefits Quebec enjoys through the protection and actions of gestion de l'offre. Dairy producers in Quebec especially enjoy tremendous advantage.
I find it very puzzling at times when I discuss this with rural members in my riding. Maybe it is not uncommon that the main leaders in the federation that supposedly defend the interests of farmers have separatist tendencies. Maybe the Bloc do not choose to advocate the benefits farmers enjoy because of the adherence to the federation that we love to call Canada. However, in Quebec they would prefer to have their own country.
I am baffled. Whenever a letter is written to a newspaper, very quickly someone from the UPA for example will refute the arguments and we get into a battle.
There is no guarantee that the protection farmers enjoy today would be continued in a separate Quebec. No member of the Bloc Quebecois can stand and honestly say that in this House. The protection is by staying in Canada.
If we look at their so-called draft bill, Bloc Quebecois members are very quick to state that we are offering only the status quo, but they exclude article 1 of their draft bill which states categorically that Quebec will be an independent country. Then in articles 2 to 16 they say they would like the same monetary unit, the same immigration, the same passport, the same economic union. That is the status quo. They have all of that already within Canada and now they want to destroy it to get it back. There is no guarantee they will get protection under GATT, the G-7, or any other agreement.
To answer the question, the tariffs that were negotiated in the last round of the GATT see a decreasing protection through tariffication of roughly 15 per cent per year. That will give the industry enough time to adapt. By the same token, the government has doubled the loan provisions from $1.5 billion to $3 billion to help farmers obtain access to needed capital. The tariffication process will allow them the needed three or four years.