Mr. Speaker, those questions and the answers provide me with an excellent opportunity to participate in the debate. I am pleased to have this opportunity to re-emphasize for the House the importance the government accords to agriculture in Canada.
As was just discussed, I need to remind members that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has been working non-stop for the past year with his provincial and territorial counterparts to develop the policy that they all agreed to in principle last June in Whitehorse. It is a policy that will take Canada's agriculture sector from the 20th century truly into the 21st century.
As the secretary of state just said, the importance of this agricultural policy framework, as it is called, lies in its ability to galvanize the agriculture sector and to increase its competitiveness and profitability in the long term. It is a strong, integrated policy that focuses on food safety and quality, innovation and environmentally responsible production. Such a policy is this sector's best security for the future. The government recognized this in the December budget when it made a commitment to provide its share of predictable long term funding to support such a policy.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and his provincial colleagues continue to make progress toward signing an umbrella agreement on this framework next month.
This new integrated policy is essential for the continued growth of the agriculture sector in Canada as it faces unprecedented challenges. This is not something that can be accomplished piecemeal. No matter how well-meaning, knee-jerk reactions are not the way to go.
Our farmers work in a very complex world environment today. We all know about the U.S. farm bill. We all know about drought, globalization and the increasing consumer concerns and demands. Those are tough challenges but Canadian producers have always turned challenges to their benefit by treating them as opportunities. They have always used ingenuity and innovation to come up with better ways to meet the bottom line. That is how the farmers, not governments, built our agriculture and agrifood sector into a multi-billion dollar business, accounting for 8% of the gross domestic products. It is the largest manufacturing sector in seven out of ten of our provinces and the third largest agrifood exporter in the world.
The agriculture and agrifood sector is a major economic driver in the country. The proposed agriculture policy framework recognizes this and will lead to even greater growth and profitability.
When the nation's agriculture ministers met last June in Whitehorse, they shared a sense of urgency, fully aware that agricultural policy in Canada did not square with the challenges and opportunities that the new millennium held. What united the ministers in Whitehorse was the recognition that new times called for new measures. They left Whitehorse with an agreement in principle on an action plan to help Canada be the best in the world at meeting the demands of the marketplace.
Over the course of the last year the response to their vision has gone from being cautious initially, as one would expect, even skeptical in the first place, to wide acceptance and broad support among the stakeholders. I stress the stakeholders. I am not talking about wide acceptance and support among politicians.
The reason for that development over the year is quite simple. It is because this approach makes sense. It is the logical approach and the sector sees it as the approach that will increase profitability by equipping it for success in the 21st century marketplace driven by the new expectations of consumers and tight global competition.
A year after Whitehorse, agriculture ministers across the country remain committed to the plan and are determined to make it work.
Only three weeks ago they met in Ottawa to confirm the direction of the proposed framework and review the input that came from the first wave of national dialogue with stakeholders. There still remains much work and analysis to be done and they continue to involve stakeholders as they move forward.
As I said earlier, the proposed agricultural policy framework is about turning challenges into opportunities, opportunities to use our Canadian ingenuity and innovation to out work, out think and out perform the competition so that we can be the world leader in food safety, innovation and environmental sustainability and thereby increase profitability in the sector.
Many of the programs and initiatives captured by the framework are already in place. It is no secret that Canada already enjoys an excellent reputation for the quality of its food, the superiority of its agricultural research and the respect farmers show for the environment. This is the strong foundation on which we plan to build an even better agricultural sector, a sector that will be first in the world in the eyes of consumers.
The five elements have been identified as keys to the success of the framework: food safety, business risk management, renewal, innovation and the environment. Instead of those elements being dealt with piecemeal they will be integrated to be most effective.
The proposed policy would allow practices, procedures and processes to be modified over a transition period, but it is clear that the sooner the framework is fully operational, the sooner the sector and all Canadians can reap the rewards.
Under the policy framework, farmers would have access to the tools they need to meet the challenges in food safety and the environment. The renewal element would offer a range of programming to help farmers acquire new skills, grow their businesses and seek new opportunities.
Science would be expanded beyond traditional productivity applications to deal with emerging challenges and opportunities in a bio-economy. Long term integrated risk management programming would provide a stable, predictable planning environment.
I can assure the House that the government will not leave farmers fending for themselves. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food is looking at all the options available to help producers move forward with greater security.
Other countries are well on their way to drafting their own responses to the new realities of this new century. Canada cannot afford to wait at the starting gate in the race for global business. That gate is open and we have to get a move on right now. With the agricultural policy framework we have the means to get out in front and stay out in front. It is the agricultural sector's best opportunity ever for long term success and profitability.
I do not believe this is the time for short, rapid, knee-jerk solutions. This is a time for an integrated, co-ordinated approach to agriculture which is so varied and so rich all across the country.