Mr. Speaker, I am pleased by the question from my colleague of the New Democratic Party, since I used to be an economist with L'Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec. I am still very much attuned to farming issues.
Today, the problem of farm subsidies remains unchanged. In recent years, and especially with the eighth GATT round, which led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization, it was decided to reduce trade distorting subsidies. That was in 1993. It concerned 140 countries belonging to the WTO. It was agreed to reduce these subsidies to a given level annually until they were finally eliminated and to retain only those subsidies that did not have a distorting effect on international prices and exports.
Unfortunately, some countries made greater efforts than others, and Canada is one of these. We were, to put it another way, more catholic than the Pope, as we would say in Quebec. We cut our subsidies more than the Americans and the Europeans, so that, at the moment, prices on international markets remain depressed. Western exporters are facing lower prices on the export market. These lower prices are the result of the unfair American and European subsidies.
So we again find ourselves in a situation like this, where competition hinges not on the quality of our agricultural products—wheat, pork, dairy products, and so forth—but on the subsidies provided by governments of the larger nations or regions in the world. It is essential that the current round of WTO negotiations correct this problem.
As for this government, it has thrown out the baby with the bath water. In attempting to do something about subsidies which were causing distortions, it jeopardized, and is still jeopardizing, the survival of farm families. Even though they are among the best producers in the world, with top quality products and an excellent price-quality ratio in a normal market, they are not able to compete with producers and exporters receiving billions of dollars in subsidies annually.
It is time that the government did something, stepped up its negotiations and took a stronger stand internationally, first, so as to reduce subsidies, which are distorting international prices and, second, to put a little money in the pockets of agricultural producers in Quebec and in Canada, to give them a new lease on life. This is what it will take to keep our agri-food industry going. Otherwise, its survival is at risk.