Mr. Speaker, I want to remind the House what supply management, or SM5, is all about. Supply management is a tool enabling milk, chicken, turkey, hatching and table egg producers to achieve the best balance possible between supply and demand for their products across Quebec and Canada.
This way, producers only produce just enough products to meet Canadian needs and avoid producing surpluses which would then have to be cleared at a loss. This planning process, coupled with import control and a mechanism that enables producers to negotiate collectively a price based on their production cost, assures them of a stable and fairer income, without governmental subsidies.
At the request of dairy producers in Quebec and Canada, who met with the hon. member for Châteauguay—Saint-Constant and me, it was agreed to add the following to the motion. Allow me therefore to read the new, amended Motion M-163:
That, in the opinion of the House, in the current World Trade Organization negotiations, the government should not agree to any concession that would weaken collective marketing strategies or the supply management system and should also seek an agreement establishing fair and equitable rules that foster the international competitiveness of agricultural exporters in Quebec and Canada.
That is what the Dairy Farmers of Canada asked for to help exporters. Let me read an excerpt from the press release of Grey, Clark, Shih & Associates, Limited, International Trade & Public Affairs. It reads as follows:
The Canadian government must do more at the WTO to ensure a better balance in agricultural trade.
Ottawa, April 14, 2005.
“The Government of Canada must be more firm in its negotiations on agricultural trade at the WTO, because the current framework of negotiations will not make it possible to alleviate the imbalances between participating countries. If the ties between subsidies and tariffs are not taken into consideration, this will perpetuate and worsen existing imbalances in the WTO rules that apply to agricultural trade”. This is what Peter Clark, from Grey, Clark, Shih & Associates, said during the presentation of the findings of a study sponsored by Canada's dairy producers. The presentation was made yesterday, in Quebec City, at the annual general meeting of the Fédération des producteurs de lait du Québec.
Peter Clark used empirical data to demonstrate that the subsidies granted in countries like the United States allow their producers to better absorb the impact of tariff reductions. In 2003, American dairy producers benefited from direct and indirect support to the tune of $13.8 billion US. This means that the subsidies that they receive from federal, state and local governments account for about 40% of their revenues. These subsidies have the effect of restricting access to the U.S. market. The United States is advocating tariff reductions, because it can restrict access to its market, while trying to export American products abroad.
In conclusion, all political parties in this House must agree with motion No. M-163, as amended, to protect our five supply management groups, which do not cost Quebec and Canadian taxpayers a penny.