Mr. Chair, I want to thank you for allowing us to have this debate this evening. It is the main issue in my riding, as I am sure you understand. Mine is a rural riding that is feeling the effects of the biggest crisis agriculture has faced for decades.
Tonight I want to thank the government, that is, the Alberta government, for stepping up to the plate first, for having a minister who understands the industry and understands the crisis in responding to the degree that she has, and it is not just the minister but in fact the entire government.
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association said in its report, “It is important to recognize that the elements of this plan”--its plan--“are interrelated and cannot be considered independent of each other”.
The program that this government has come up with is absolutely contingent on a number of things happening if it is going to be viewed as a success. First, if the border is to open, many producers, many individuals in the industry, view that as being a possible saviour, as allowing the industry to carry on. The second part, though, is that slaughter capacity must be increased. The extra supply of beef that needs to be processed if it is going to leave this country is an imperative.
This program has a number of different facets to it, but if slaughter capacity is not increased everything else falls apart.
Today I had a call from a constituent who is prepared to move ahead with a slaughter facility in Alberta, a facility that could cost $55 million. It has already secured between $20 million and $25 million. Now when the banks are approached, the banks say that because the federal government has stepped up with such small amounts, a $66 million loan loss reserve fund, much less than many lending institutions ever imagined, they are starting to back away. They say the risk is still too high.
So all the set-aside programs and all the other programs are being jeopardized if we cannot see more capacity resolved. There is nothing in this plan about tax incentives for those who would invest risk capital into start-up projects, either to increase existing plants or to begin new plants. There is nothing in the plan about long term tax incentives for those new plants to start.
Again, a loan loss reserve fund that gives a small degree of security or satisfaction to the lending institutions is perhaps part of it, but why did the government miss an opportunity to tell individuals that if they are putting up money it will make sure that there will be tax incentives that will help them in the long term. Why did the government miss on that?