moved:
That the committee take note of the crisis facing the agricultural industry.
Madam Chairman, the issue we are dealing with in agriculture is essentially comprised of two issues: first, the massive drought that has occurred across the country this year; and second, the ongoing low commodity prices, particularly in the grains and oilseeds area. There has been some increase in those prices, but the problem continues. With the drought, the farmers do not have the grains and oilseeds to sell to take advantage of some price increases, which we may hear about later on in the debate.
Canadian farmers from coast to coast are suffering from these drought conditions. I believe that the government, the cabinet and the agriculture minister are continuing to ignore the needs of farm families and rural Canada. This is not in the national interest. Agriculture is far too important in these troubled times to have our food supply in jeopardy.
The Liberal agriculture minister refused to acknowledge the depths of the ongoing farm income crisis and the exasperating impact of the drought. In regard to safety nets, CP Wire spoke to the agriculture minister. He was of the opinion that he still needed to know how the existing disaster assistance programs were working before committing more funds.
I know the agriculture minister is interested in the debate and I hope he will participate in it. I know he does have a concern for farmers and this issue. As a matter of fact I see that he is here. However I am concerned that he may not be getting enough feedback from members of parliament and the different constituencies to bring home to him and his cabinet colleagues the seriousness of the issue with which we are dealing.
Initiating the debate is part of the Canadian Alliance promise to farmers over the summer that agriculture would be before parliament. When the drought came along that promise was even more important. I am pleased that this has come before the committee of the whole. This is in addition to the serious issue of terrorism with which we are dealing.
The Canadian Alliance member for Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar is unable to be here. She is in the maritimes talking to farmers and others with regard to agriculture and family issues. The member certainly wants her farmers to know that their message is getting across in parliament.
Last year was eighth driest for southern Alberta since weather records began in 1886. Between April and August there was only 50 millimetres of rain. In Saskatchewan it was similar. In Ontario there were reports from the Waterloo airport that it had been the driest year since records were kept some 30 years ago. The drought is having a massive compounding effect across the country.
As all member know, Prince Edward Island has a big potato industry. It is the source of the majority of potatoes for the Cavendish Farms and McCain Foods processing factories. These companies have had to import potatoes because there is an insufficient supply of potatoes in Prince Edward Island. This is the seriousness of this problem.
Grains and oilseeds are a special case. The safety net programs, the Canadian farm income program, the crop insurance program and the NISA program are not working for the grains and oilseeds sector. That is why this is still a crisis as opposed to an issue that can be dealt with through routine government action. I will go into the history of that in a few minutes
Grain growers, who comprise corn, soybean, durum, grain and canola, estimate that the grains and oilseed impact is at least $2 billion this year. The Saskatchewan party has been out front on these issues. It has indicated that there will be as much as $770 million worth of hurt in Saskatchewan alone. I note that the provincial agriculture minister has talked about needing $200 million in additional federal funding just for the crop insurance program.
I referred to how the government dealt with safety net programs over the years. I recall that back in 1998, during September, October, November and part of December, the government and agricultural minister said that the safety net programs were sufficient. At that time, there was the crop insurance program, the NISA program, along with the companion programs. All the agriculture industry, including myself, the opposition members and the farmers were saying that those safety net programs would not be sufficient to deal with the crisis.
When the hog market fell out in those years, the government began to move and brought in the Agriculture Income Disaster Assistance, AIDA. That program worked pretty well for the hog producers, but it left out the massive problem with the grain and oilseed sector. To this day that has still not been addressed. The alfalfa dehydrators were also left out of that program. Again, this impacted not only farm families, it also impacted on the towns and communities in which they were located.
The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food produced a report in December 1999, after hearing from farmers about the income crisis and the effectiveness of the safety net programs. The reason that it had to be studied again by the standing committee, even though the AIDA program was already in place and operating, was the farmers found that the program was a disaster and did not address the needs. We had a deficient program in place.
In February 2000 the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food presented a report to the House and the government. There were seven recommendations from the chair of that committee and the Liberal members, including eight recommendations from the official opposition.
Which of the recommendations has the government actually implemented? Has it made the AIDA program efficient and effective so that it will work for this massive drought? That will be addressed under the Canadian farm income program, which is the replacement for AIDA. I look forward to the minister substantiating that it is an effective program and that it will work well.
Bob Friesen of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Kevin Maxlow of the Grain Growers of Canada and many other farm organizations have said that the CFIP program does not address the needs of the grain and oilseeds sectors. As a result we have massive problems.
The cattle industry's has had to sell its livestock twice in one year because farmers do not have the feed to carry those calves over the winter, which they normally would do. The minister has to look at extending the one year tax deferral to a two or three year deferral as required.
We need to address this issue now because climatologists have indicated that the drought, which has been in place in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan for at least two years, could well continue on for another two or three years. We have to have effective safety net programs and other government programs in place to take care of this.
Other members will speak extensively about solutions to this. Many of the solutions are not direct subsidies by the government. Rather, our members will deal with grain transportation which should be modernized. It is still highly regulated with most of the control within the Canadian Wheat Board.
We also have the issue of the Canadian Wheat Board and farmers not being allowed to market their own grain. In Ontario farmers market their grain. In Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta we are treated like little children. We are not allowed to market our grain.
Therefore, in addition to the farmers' request for an actual cash subsidy, I am advancing from the Canadian Alliance Party that many other things could be done by the government to help these farmers through this crisis and to help all of Canada, including those in small towns.