Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague from Champlain for his excellent speech. I will begin by saying that the subject we are debating tonight is a very important one, and one of great concern to the farmers in my riding, particularly those in Côte de Beaupré or Île d'Orléans. Many of them have come to my riding office to tell me so.
I must tell my colleague that I have noted the main thrust of his speech. Having followed the debates since 7:15 p.m., I have noticed he is one of the few to stress the human aspect of this crisis, its impact on farm families.
In this connection, I would like to hear my colleague from Champlain comment on an open letter from the Jean Guilbert family of Saint-Maurice, which was printed on the rural voices page of the newspaper La Terre de chez nous .
I am not sure whether Saint-Maurice will be in my colleague's future riding, because we all know he will be the member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain after the merger. I would like to read him excerpts from this letter to get his quick his comments on them.
The Jean Guilbert family of Saint-Maurice writes, “In Quebec, there are children who are leaving for school in the morning with their heads filled with worries about their families because of debts and the imminent danger of losing the farm to creditors, a farm where they live and where they often work every day. After years of sacrifice, of working seven days a week, just about 365 days a year, to get their farm up and running, their parents are now seeing their farms on their last days”.
Saint-Maurice has one of the highest concentrations of dairy farms anywhere in Quebec. I would therefore like to hear what my colleague has to say about this.