Mr. Speaker, since August, the government's decision to terminate the industrial milk subsidy has resulted in a higher price for milk solids, and that increase will be reflected in the price of dairy products. Consumers will, in fact, have to pay an average of 4 per cent more for their dairy products, and this hits the less well off particularly hard.
This is only the first step, for the end of the industrial milk subsidy, as announced in the last Martin budget, will continue to have repercussions for the next five years.
It is unfortunate that low fat products will be the ones most affected, since these contain more milk solids. This will eventually have an impact on the general health of the population and, strangely enough, at the very moment the federal government is also pulling out of funding health services, by cutting back its transfer payments.