Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Reform caucus on the motion to refer Bill C-34 to committee prior to second reading. Bill C-34 is the Agriculture Marketing Programs Act. It is the replacement for several advance payment for crops acts that are currently on the books.
This process is new to this Parliament. We have had good experiences and bad experiences when we have referred bills to committee prior to second reading. I would hope this would be a good experience. I have the assurance of the chair of the agriculture committee that we will be allowed to hear witnesses on this bill prior to going through clause by clause. I would like to presume that the committee will give us adequate time to hear witnesses and debate the bill clause by clause.
Some chairmen have been rather autocratic and undemocratic but I have confidence that the chair of the agriculture committee will allow adequate input in this bill and if amendments are needed they will be given the due consideration they should have and perhaps receive the support of the committee to come back in an improved format.
It is obvious this is not the most controversial piece of legislation facing the House. The fact that the introductory speech by the government side was made by the parliamentary secretary to the minister rather than by the minister indicates this is not an earth shattering change in legislation that will impact on agriculture.
Rather than being controversial a better word for this bill may be that it is diversionary. It is trying to divert attention from some shortcomings of the minister of agriculture and his government on to ground that it is less controversial and may find broader support from the industry.
It reminds me a little of the scene where some person is going to eat a cookie on his plate and the shyster sitting beside him points to something either real or imaginary out the window and says: "Did you see that over there?" Of course, when the potential consumer of the cookie looks out the window, the shyster grabs the cookie and quickly eats it.
I believe the minister of agriculture is trying to divert some attention away from some problems he has by bringing forward legislation that is not of primary importance to the industry.
Some might ask what are some of the issues that are being avoided? In a debate like this it would be appropriate to bring those forward at this time. Perhaps the bill we should be debating, rather than referring this to committee, is a bill to amend the Canadian Wheat Board Act. There is far more interest, certainly on the prairies, in reforming the Canadian Wheat Board Act than in reforming an Advance Payments for Crops Act such as what Bill C-34 is doing.
One just has to look at what is happening in the prairies where normally law-abiding farmers are taking wheat and barley across the U.S. border without the permits they are asked to have by the Canadians Wheat Board. One may ask: "Why is this happening?" It is not because the Advance Payments for Crops Act is not adequately working under the Canadian Wheat Board. There have been some changes to the act depending on which administration has been in power over the past few years.
Year in and year out there have been advance payments for crops on the books, yet farmers are still trying to move their products south into the United States without using a Canadian Wheat Board permit. We might want to ask: Why is that? Perhaps we need to make amendments to the Canadian Wheat Board Act which would alleviate some of this tension and alleviate the seizure of property by customs officials and the RCMP.
Why is this happening? Why is this not the priority of the Liberal government? Why is this not the issue we are debating rather than Bill C-34? Why are homes being invaded by customs agents and the RCMP? Maybe this is a serious situation and we should be
looking at it but of course, the minister is in no hurry to look at the situation.
The Canadian Wheat Board sponsored a conference in Saskatoon to try to stimulate diversification and the value added concept. It came up with a wonderful scheme of putting $10 million forward to help farmers diversify by implementing new business plans. Again it was a diversionary tactic, like Bill C-34, to get away from the real issue which is the fact that the government does not have a business plan. In the meantime, markets are being missed and producers are being miffed.
Instead of debating Bill C-34 perhaps we should have been looking at the reform of supply management. That might be an issue which is front and centre with a lot more producers than the issues which are dealt with under Bill C-34.
The Liberal government opposed NAFTA prior to the election. It actually goes all the way back to the 1988 election. Liberals said that NAFTA was a terrible deal and should not be signed. The Liberals said that if they ever got into power they would certainly fix NAFTA in a big hurry. That was their number one priority, a priority far greater than tinkering around with the advance payments act.
The Liberals finally got into power in 1993, but they totally forgot their promise to change NAFTA. They did not even go back to the table to renegotiate NAFTA like they said they would. Instead they went to the GATT table and broke another promise. They did away with article XI of GATT. They indicated to the supply managed industry that they would not do that but they did it anyway. The supply managed industries are wondering whether Bill C-34 might be a diversionary tactic to get producers' eyes off some of the problems and uncertainties facing the supply managed industry.
The Liberals even failed when they signed the GATT agreement to table an addendum to GATT indicating what their position was on the tariffs which had been agreed to as they regarded NAFTA. It certainly looks like a bit of a slip-up to me.
Now we have a U.S. challenge to our tariffs under NAFTA which is going before a dispute settlement panel. We expect the results to be tabled sometime in August. That is a far more important issue to producers. They would like to see the government acting on that rather than on this issue.
The Crow buy-out and some of its problems are far more of a concern to the industry than is Bill C-34.
If Bill C-34 is passed in its current form, it will be another Liberal broken promise. I have in my hand a letter from the Prime Minister. It was written when he was Leader of the Opposition and is dated September 8, 1993. The letter is to the Ontario corn producers. He talks about the advance payments for crops act and the changes which his government, if elected, would bring forward.
The letter reads: "In May we announced that we would bring back the interest free cash advance program by statute and we would make it a working capital program by providing half of the maximum $50,000 available to producers after seeding in the spring and the remainder in the fall". That is not in the bill. I have looked through the bill and it is not there. It is all after harvest, after the crops are in the bin. There is no provision for half of the advance payment to be made after seeding.
If the bill is passed in its current form, it will be yet another Liberal broken promise. Perhaps the Liberals will bring forward an amendment because of this oversight or perhaps they had no intention of keeping that promise. However, I suggest they look at it. I also suggest they should get their priorities straight as far as the industry is concerned.