Mr. Chair, my question is this. In my region—it must be similar in Quebec— farmers are losing their shirts and working their fingers to the bone. This is an important industry. People talk about earning their bread and butter, but this is bread and meat and also milk. We know how important this industry is to our communities and our rural areas.
Canada is already experiencing a job crisis in urban and rural areas. In the rural areas, farmers are losing their shirts and their farms.
Could my colleague tell the House a little bit about the situation facing Quebec? Does he believe that the federal government is currently providing more assistance to the packers and letting them get away with something? It is almost criminal, in the sense that farmers talk about producing beef from day one until it goes to market and onto the plates of consumers. Somewhere between the producer and the consumer, many people are pocketing money, and it is neither the consumer nor the producer.
I want my colleague's opinion on the situation in Quebec. I know what is happening in my region. Farmers are losing their shirts, but supermarkets have not changed the price of steaks and other cuts of meat.
I would like his opinion. What are farmers in Quebec saying? Are they saying the same thing as farmers in New Brunswick? Farmers in Acadie—Bathurst are calling my office to tell me that, without short-term compensation, their industry will go under.