That sure look bad, as the hon. member for Longueuil so aptly puts it.
As the agriculture critic for my party, I would like to call to mind a problem we are all facing at the moment with the importing of butter oil, mainly from New Zealand and Australia, by the big and well-known multinational, Unilever.
In late 1993, when we negotiated the GATT, later to become the WTO, agreements, it was agreed that agriculture on which there were quotas in Canada would be protected: dairy, eggs and poultry production. In order to protect those quotas, we set a very high duty, which to all intents and purposes made it virtually impossible to import dairy products, butter, poultry products and eggs.
This 461 page tome we are presented with here is full of loopholes. When it has been weeded through, when experts like the Minister of Finance have weeded through it, it will be found to be full of loopholes. Some companies have discovered the trick of importing butter oil at nearly zero duty, a mere 7% or 8%, so the amount of butter oil has doubled year after year for the past five years here in Canada, and you and I are now being served up second class ice cream at the same price as before. Thus the dairy farmers of Canada have had a 3% drop in quotas, which represents close to $2,000 per dairy farm in Canada.
Since 47% of industrial milk produced in Canada is produced in Quebec, the dairy farmers of Quebec are being penalized nearly 50%.
The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food insisted on resolving the impasse. It involved dealing with the departments of finance, revenue, agriculture, foreign trade and, of course, the new food inspection agency because butter oil, which arrives by ship, must be checked to ensure it does not contain BST. It also must be checked to see that it is of good quality and edible.
So there is a loophole, an error. It can be imported under a different tariff schedule, a number that was changed so that 49% butter mixed with 51% sugar creates a mixture that, once in Canada, can be processed to make ice cream. Worse yet, the mixture can be put in a separator, the butter and sugar switched around and butter made. So what cannot be done legally can be done illegally.
Time is passing, and I wanted to speak to you of a loophole. One of my constituents called me last week to tell me that she and her husband had started a company to operate their farm at Saint-Ludger, near Beauce. They have farmed for 30 years.
The Conservatives and not the Liberals were originally responsible, but the Liberals have not corrected the injustice. I was informed that there was an accounting void between November 21, 1985 and January 1, 1988 for farmers setting up a company within that time period. Before and after this period, the value of the milk quota can be included in the company and when the company is sold, no tax is paid on the value of this quota.
My constituent in Saint-Ludger is therefore penalized, but she is not the only one. It is not encouraging, to be sure, but it is estimated that there are 300 producers in Quebec and over 1,200 altogether in Canada penalized by this administrative oversight.
I asked the Minister of Finance to rectify this situation, but it is taking a long time to get an answer. For the ships flying the flag of Barbados, there is no problem. These matters are quickly sorted out.
I would like to speak about employment insurance. The Minister of Finance will soon achieve budget surpluses, but unfortunately it will be at the expense of the most disadvantaged. As we know, the gap between the rich and the poor is not getting any smaller. On the contrary, it is growing much wider. The proof is that the government overtaxes workers on their EI premiums and has reduced the size of the cheque they receive to 55%, with the result that surpluses are accumulating that are expected to exceed $13 billion this year.
In closing, I must say that I am going to vote with my colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois against Bill C-28, which leaves much to be desired.