Madam Speaker, I am more than pleased to have the opportunity today to speak on a very important piece of legislation for farm families, Bill C-38, the farm debt mediation act.
This new legislation will replace the current Farm Debt Review Act with a new farm debt and mediation process. This is another example of how the Liberal government is putting the needs of rural Canada, of farm families and farmers first. It is one of a long list of initiatives we are undertaking to improve the system to better serve the agricultural sector.
This new act addresses the problems that farmers have identified over the years with the Farm Debt Review Board system. It goes a long way to improving the farmer's position in insolvency proceedings.
The Farm Debt Review Act first came into being 10 years ago in response to debt problems in the farm sector at that time. It established farm debt review boards in every province to provide third party mediation between farmers and their creditors.
With the passage of this new act, the Farm Debt Review Board would be replaced by a new broader based farm income review service. This new service will help farmers position themselves to better adapt to new income opportunities to help those farmers who may experience financial difficulties related to either income or debt servicing ability.
This is a proactive approach. We are setting up a system to help farmers before difficulties become debt load problems with creditors. We are giving farmers more options and better opportunities to make their operations viable and stay on to do what they do best, to farm, to produce high quality food and to feed the world.
The government developed the concept for this new service to compliment the other positive initiatives we have taken in the areas of agriculture and agri-food.
This legislation is the result of cross-Canada consultations with farmers and their creditors as well as provincial governments. It is therefore not surprising that there is widespread support for the initiatives of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
In keeping with the Liberal government's strong record of consulting with Canadians, we are proposing to refer the act to the standing committee before second reading to give farmers every opportunity to add their input.
The best solutions are found through consultation and co-operation. That is exactly what the government is doing with farmers for farmers. This new service is designed to be an integral part of an overall package of adaptation initiatives aimed at helping the sector adapt and take advantage of opportunities to build a strong rural Canada.
The service will be funded out of the Canadian adaptation and rural development fund which was announced in the 1995 budget to help the sector make the transition to a more efficient and competitive market economy.
The new legislation retains the stay of proceedings, review and mediation but now puts the mediation aspect into legislation. By placing mediation within the act, farmers are assured of an impartial mediation process and that the mediator is not advising the farmer or negotiating on behalf of the farmer or the creditor.
Further, farmers will not have the opportunity to appeal decisions regarding the granting, extension and termination of stays of proceedings which do not exist under the existing act.
By setting up an appeal process and a formal appeal board, the Liberal government is giving farmers a further recourse. In keeping with the government's commitment to reduce cost of government and to save taxpayer dollars, this new service would be less costly to administer with the current Farm Debt Review Board.
Since it is less administratively cumbersome, there would be better opportunities to reduce duplication and to work within provincial mediation services. There would be two components of the new farm income review service, a debt mediation service and a farm consultation service not tied to a debt crisis.
The new debt mediation service would also be based on a single mediator model rather than the current three-person panel. There would no longer be farm debt review boards and mediators would not be appointed by the minister.
We are depoliticizing the process to the benefit of farmers. These changes would reduce the program cost by more than $1 million per year.
The other component of the new farm income review service, the farm consultation service, would provide financial consultation to farmers facing emerging problems or when farm families are looking for opportunities.
The service would be preventive in nature and would provide advice on cash flow problems as well as helping farmers look at options for diversification, expansion, downsizing and restructuring their operations.
The bill will help farmers better manage their economic future and will help increase the overall prosperity of our agricultural sector and of our rural communities.
There is more optimism in the agriculture sector than I have ever seen. That optimism is the result of the positive policies the government is putting place like new legislation to help farmers.
I saw this optimism this past weekend when I had the pleasure of attending a centennial farm celebration for the Dalgeish family in Grandview. Four generations of the Dalgeish family have toiled
for long hours in very difficult conditions through the dirty thirties, through searing heat and bitter cold, through droughts and floods, through strong markets and world price wars. They have persevered and worked the same farm for 100 years, and that is certainly something worth celebrating. I am a third generation farmer and I know how important it is to ensure the farming tradition continues.
I am pleased to be part of a government that is putting in proactive farmer initiative policies for long term survival and prosperity of family farms, policies to ensure we have many more centennial farms to celebrate.
I have always been and I continue to be an ambassador for rural Canada, an ambassador for rural economic development. Never in Canadian history has the future of rural Canada looked so bright, and this is at least in part due to the very positive action the government has taken to enhance the agricultural sector. The government is putting in place the foundations needed to take rural Canada, farmers, into the 21st century. For this reason I wholeheartedly support the bill.