Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak this afternoon in the debate on Bill C-34, tabled in this House on May 3 by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. This bill to establish programs for the marketing of agricultural products was a measure long awaited by both the producers themselves and the many agricultural product marketing boards.
I would, therefore, like to provide some clarifications on the nature of my speech itself, with respect to the considerable impact of this bill. On the one hand, I wish to voice my support of this legislative measure, with its substantial favourable impact on the fate of producers as they make their way through the bureaucratic complexities which characterize the agricultural sector of this country.
On the other hand, I seriously question whether the government is truly concerned about agriculture and agri-food. The minister himself could testify as to just how many legislative rectifications need to be made to the Canadian agricultural sector to bring it in step with the autonomist trends of this modern era.
In this connection, Bill C-34 represents a praiseworthy effort by the minister to facilitate access by producers to simple and effective means of marketing their produce with a view to maximizing profits.
An in-depth examination of the bill, however, has pointed out certain shortcomings in the very spirit of this draft of the bill.
I want to point out one thing which strikes me as an out and out paradox, relating to a lack of analytical rigour on the part of the government. I will spare you the detailed explanation of the implementation of this bill in order to give you a brief indication of what the government will have to justify in order to have this legislation unanimously approved.
With regard to the budgetary aspect of Bill C-34, it should be noted that $120 million will be allotted to the advance payments program over three years. Needless to say, this element of the bill is the basis for a cash payment to all farmers in this country.
However, there is a rather obvious inconsistency in the way the government markets these same crops. Let me explain. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will use huge sums of money to facilitate the marketing of annual crops. But this money comes from the income protection programs envelope. You will agree with me that this is a rather huge inconsistency. The government is simply hiding the cuts it is forcing on a category of taxpayers, who are already in a precarious financial position.
In this context, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's income protection programs envelope for the 1997-98 crop year will be 30 per cent less than estimated, easily some $250 million, or a quarter of a billion dollars. I agree that the government should keep on putting its financial house in order, but not at any cost. In my opinion, this way of hiding cuts is shameful.
Farmers from Quebec and western Canada are no fools. They have already been subjected to the deceitful actions of the department since 1992, but always in exchange for false hopes. If we really calculate the amounts that are to be allocated to the various programs in this bill, we get two results. First, we see there is a shortfall to really fund the government's initiatives.
In the second case, we get the financial provisions that are outlined in Bill C-34, a bunch of details that are only meant to complicate the administrative framework and thus make its passing easier, because of the urgency of the situation.
However, I want to salute the government's initiative for wanting to update the programs for the marketing of agricultural products. I agree with the general thrust of this bill and I admit that, if it had not been for the deficient budgetary aspect that I have outlined earlier, I would support this piece of legislation without any hesitation.
In that context, I hope the government will take into consideration the factual aspects I have mentioned. It is in the interest of its credibility toward a major segment of the population in this country, and particularly, in the interest of its honour and integrity. Recently, some farmers in my riding asked me with a totally disenchanted attitude: "When the Minister of Finance tables his budget, does he do so with the intention of deceiving Canada and Quebec taxpayers? We often hear this question from farmers".
Beyond all partisan considerations, it is important to legislate in the real interests of the people. Farmers must deal with a situation that varies with weather conditions. So, it is important to make sure they have a minimum of stability and, particularly, to ensure the numbers that are presented to them accurately reflect their circumstances.
That is in essence the position we will defend here with my colleague, the member for Québec-Est. So, on the whole, we will give our support to the government for the quick passage of Bill C-34, since while there are some deficiencies, of course, by and large, the bill is acceptable.