Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to join with my colleagues here in the Progressive Conservative Party to speak to this group of amendments with respect to the Farm Credit Corporation.
The crux of our difficulty is that although we as a party are indeed in support of the bill itself, as the member for St. John's West said a few moments ago we have grave concerns that the amendments before us in this group will indeed have a detrimental effect on smaller farm operations, the family farms. As the hon. member for Saint John said, they are indeed the cornerstone of rural Canada and small rural towns. Those family farms in fact essentially represent the main street of rural Canada. They are where people live. They are where they earn a living. They also provide for the infrastructure that we have in rural Canada.
My riding, the great riding of Fundy—Royal, is one of the dairy capitals of this great country. Over half the milk production for the province of New Brunswick is from Fundy—Royal. Some of the farm operations are small farms that make a valuable contribution to the rural community despite the fact that they may only be milking 35 or 40 cows. The average is more often than not in the neighbourhood of 80 cows. Whether we are talking Jerseys, Guernseys or Holsteins, the role that dairy farms play in my riding in particular and the role these small operations play are intrinsic to rural Canada and that way of life.
In point of fact we know that the government's record with respect to agriculture on a broad stroke of issues has been suspect at best. Members probably recall the federal government's inability and almost unwillingness at one point to actually fight on behalf of potato farmers and those small, vibrant businesses on Prince Edward Island. At that time the government needed to defend the interests of P.E.I. potato farmers and point out that the potato blight that was detected was in one corner of one field and by no means had any kind of detrimental effect with respect to the potato crop on Prince Edward Island as a whole.
The Government of Canada really did not step up to the plate for this. The efforts were made by the Progressive Conservative Party, by our agriculture critic, the hon. member for Brandon—Souris, and in particular by the member from the neighbouring riding across the Northumberland Strait, the hon. member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, who brought up this particular issue on the floor of the House of Commons time and time again.
I would point out that it was the Liberal Party of Canada who gave us the credit. The Liberals thought they had made the first correction with the Americans and we were the first people they tried to attack, to point to, saying that they had solved the problem. They looked over toward us because they knew it was the Progressive Conservative Party that was defining the P.E.I. potato blight issue.
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is an ardent supporter of the supply management regime we have, particularly in dairy products. If we look at all the other commodities within agriculture that have difficulty because of international subsidies, we know that our supply management regime has been critical to our capacity to maintain a solid market.
However, we need to have proper protection for supply management. I know the NDP agriculture critic has been an advocate of this issue as well. We cannot have supply management unless we protect our borders. It was shameless of the Government of Canada to do what it did when we went to the WTO with respect to agriculture issues and protecting supply management. In place of article 11 we accepted the tariff rate quota regime.
Here is what happened when the Minister for International Trade provided ministerial permits so that, in this case, cheese sticks could come into Canada. That actually consumed the equivalent of the production of 70 Canadian dairy farms. We gave that away unilaterally. To show how disingenuous that actually was, it was done without even informing the agricultural or dairy community of the country. The government did it unilaterally. It was almost by accident that the Government of Canada was outed on this particular issue.
Now the dairy farmers of Canada are saying quite clearly that they are very suspicious about whether the Liberal Party is in fact a supporter of supply management to the degree that it should be. I do not think it supports the same position that I know the Bloc, the New Democrats and the Conservatives have with respect to supply management in dairy farming in this country.
We will be here on this side of the House to ensure that the Liberal government does not squander livelihoods with respect to supply management and small farms.
There is another case where the Government of Canada did not defend the rights of the dairy community. It permitted, with hardly a fuss, the importing into Canada of butter oil and sugar blends. These butter oil and sugar blends are essentially a dairy replacement and replaced almost $50 million worth of milk quota that actually rightfully belonged to Canadian dairy farmers.
Quite honestly I wish the Liberal Party of Canada would understand that in Canada we are supposed to milk the cows, not the dairy farmers. We should ensure that we actually protect what Canada now freely negotiates at the WTO. We should not give it away unilaterally. These butter oil and sugar blends actually displaced $50 million worth of industrial milk and cream that we clearly could have been purchasing from our own dairy farmers. We want to take the initiative to defend our dairy farmers.
My colleague, the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, is interested in saying a few words on this bill as well. Given that our time is running out, I want to make sure that all of us on this side of the House defend the rights and responsibilities that the Government of Canada should have in protecting the small farms, protecting supply management and particularly in protecting the dairy farmers in this great country of Canada.