Mr. Speaker, the U.S. farm bill promises to bring undue hardship on Canadian farmers. The bill will increase government payments to American farmers and potentially introduce pulse crops to the American subsidy umbrella.
I have brought these concerns to the attention to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Up until this point, he has done little to reassure working Canadian farmers that he is doing anything on their behalf.
In light of this, members will be surprised to learn that the U.S. secretary of agriculture, Ann Veneman, recently travelled to Mexico to meet with her counterpart, the Mexican secretary for agriculture. For two days they discussed co-operation with regard to agriculture policies between their two countries. I guess Canada was not invited. I guess Canada has lost all of its influence.
Despite this, the minister of agriculture today is in Washington, D.C., but who is he meeting with? He is meeting with the American farm bureau, he is meeting with the NFU but he has no meeting with the minister. What an insult to Canada. What an insult to our policy.