Mr. Speaker, today is Food Freedom Day in Canada, the day when Canadians have earned enough money in this calendar year to pay their groceries for the entire 12 months. This year it took 38 days for the average Canadian family to earn enough money to buy food for the year. Two years ago it took 42 days.
Today farm leaders on Parliament Hill pointed out that Canadians spend but 10% of their income on food and they want a lot more Canadian consumers to be aware of it. In many other parts of the world the cost of food is significantly higher.
Thanks to our farmers Canadians enjoy one of the safest, high quality and most affordable food supplies in the world. Although Canadian consumers benefit from the tremendous effort made by farmers, the share of the consumer dollar that actually reaches the farm gate has shrunk to levels no longer sustainable.
On behalf of farmers everywhere in Canada the government must begin to provide significantly more financial support to address the farm income crisis across the country.