Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the debate this evening and to share my time with my colleague, the member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre. He was the first member of the House to begin calling for an emergency debate on the crisis faced by our farm families and our farm communities.
Our caucus ever since has been calling for swift action by the government. It is very regrettable that we do not yet see signs that the federal Liberal government recognizes the severity of this crisis nor the urgency that is required to move swiftly to address the tragedy that is unfolding. Let us be clear that the magnitude of this crisis is surpassed in this century only by the Great Depression of the dirty thirties.
We have been trying to get the government to recognize that it must act before more lives are devastated, before more lifelong investments are jeopardized and more livelihoods destroyed. Regrettably farmers and their families are still waiting for that swift action.
Low international commodity prices for agriculture products, particularly grain and hogs, and the tailspin in Asian markets have put the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Canadian farmers at risk. Nowhere is it clearer than on our farms today that globalization rules crafted to meet the demands of the mega corporations to make mega profits will never serve ordinary hardworking farm families. We must ensure that increased globalization is accompanied by increased safeguards at the international level.
However, proposals to rein in speculators in money and commodities and to bring humanity to international economies cannot be put in place overnight. A Tobin tax on international speculation will not help our farmers today. Promises of more rational international economic management will not provide relief tomorrow. As I said in the House last week, we cannot feed pigs with promises and we cannot grow grain in such uncertain ground.
Canadian farmers face a crisis now. It is not good enough for Liberals to do as little as possible as late as possible. Nor is it helpful for the Reform Party in its usual Pavlovian fashion to pretend that lower taxes offer a solution to this crisis because they do not. And to howl long and loud about international subsidies will not solve the crisis either.
These farm families need urgent assistance and they need it now. They need quick and decisive action. Neither the government nor the official opposition seems to understand that. Or if they do, they apparently are not willing to respond with the urgent measures that are so desperately needed.
Make no mistake. This is a crisis. In 1998 farm income in Saskatchewan will decline by nearly one-half a billion dollars. That is over a 70% decline in income. In Manitoba it will decline by more than a quarter of a billion dollars, $300 million. In Prince Edward Island incomes will be 33% lower than the 1993-97 average.
Since 1995 wheat prices at the farm gate have dropped 40%. Hog prices have dropped 60% from 1997 levels. In my home province of Nova Scotia almost $50 million will be required to make up for lost revenues. The lost farm income in Manitoba and Saskatchewan alone is equal to all of the losses in this January's ice storm.
What is the cost of waiting? What is the cost of the Liberal approach of waiting until the last minute to pay as little as possible to our farm families in distress?
First, it means fewer family farms and more agribusiness. If trends continue, there will be 7,500 fewer farms in Manitoba in less than 10 years. Fewer family farms spells disaster for the small businesses that depend on the strong local farm economy. And fewer farm families means greater strains on our rural infrastructure, more school and hospital closures, reduced services and destruction of a way of life.
Second, the Liberal delay means that thousands of farms that can be viable if they are helped to weather this storm will not be around when the snow melts. They will not be able to afford the seed, the feed or the fertilizers they need to survive into next year.
Inside and outside this House the member for Palliser and other NDP members have been warning the minister since last March of the mounting farm crisis. In October, New Democrats proposed an emergency program to match recently announced U.S. assistance. In response to our questions, the minister simply boasted that Americans envy our farm support programs and that his government was studying the problem.
The Americans did more than study. They acted at the first sign of trouble. Meanwhile our agriculture minister has not yet convinced his colleagues of the urgency of the crisis. It is shameful and a national disgrace that a government that boasts a $10.5 billion surplus has neither the humanity nor the competence to address this crisis.
Since the United States implemented its program of relief, what have we had from this federal Liberal government? Sixty more days of inaction. Sixty more days of bankruptcy. Sixty more days of foreclosures. Sixty more days of stress and crippling uncertainty for our farm families.
In Saskatchewan alone requests for farm debt mediation and consultation services have increased 76%. Meanwhile Reformers advocate tax cuts for fertilizer and farm implements as the remedy. Talk about an eyedropper in an ocean. A few hundred dollars in tax relief from reduced sales taxes is not going to make up for the $60 lost in each and every hog produced or compensate for more than a 70% reduction in farm income.
Reform talks about unfair subsidies. Our farmers are in this crisis partly because the Liberal government blindly and foolishly followed Reform proposals to cut $600 million in farm support. In fact, the Liberals driven by Reform mean-spiritedness cut nearly $2 billion in support. They went further than the Reform Party advocated in the way of cuts, which is why we are in this mess today.
While Europeans and Americans were carefully and steadily reducing subsidies in line with the WTO guidelines by 25% over five years, Canada chose to reduce subsidies by over 60% for crops. Cancelling the Crow benefit alone meant an annual loss of $700 million to prairie farmers.
Reform's leader said he was not convinced of the need for an emergency income program. He should open his eyes and unplug his ears. Listen to farmers across this country who see their livelihood threatened by an international crisis not of their own making and a government that has slashed agricultural support far beyond that of our competitors and far beyond WTO requirements.
People's lives are at stake. They need assistance, not Reform members shaking their fists at international subsidies.
What should the government do to restore hope to Canadian farmers? Let me outline a four point plan that must be implemented immediately.
First, a program of emergency income assistance, at least $700 million, that matches the aid provided to U.S. farmers. Second, in conjunction with the banks, a moratorium on farm foreclosures. Third, improved debt management provisions for farm families and the businesses that depend on them. Finally, we must ensure that food is not destroyed, not ploughed under, not slaughtered and left to rot in this crisis. This is food that could be used to feed hungry people in crisis at home and abroad. We should make sure that we take this humanitarian approach.
This has to be a national program to meet the needs of all Canada's farmers. The national government must take the leadership and the lion's share of the responsibility, leaving room to be sure for supplementary programming from the provinces.
In closing, I want to say that agriculture is one of the most hopeful and visionary of all occupations. More than an occupation, it is a calling.
Each year a new spring gives renewed optimism for the future. Better weather, better crops, better prices. We must ensure that this coming spring is one of hope. If we fail, it will be instead a spring of despair. We can make it a spring of hope, but we must act quickly and we must act now.