Mr. Chair, the hon. member is always a passionate individual when he talks about agriculture and rural Canada.
In terms of supply management and support for our industry, what it can achieve and what we want it to achieve, from a substantive basis we are very much in line. However, there is a difference on one very important thing.
I am not particularly interested in some sort of symbolic act. I am not interested in making a grandiose announcement and getting whatever reaction there might be. My objective is very straightforward and simple. That is to achieve a result in the WTO negotiations that allows Canadian producers to make choices about their domestic marketing strategies, that is to choose, to participate and to pursue a supply managed system.
I believe it is incumbent upon me, as we pursue those negotiations, to do it in a way that is most likely to provide that result. That is what we intend to do. I accept the fact that the hon. member and I may disagree about the best way to go about that, that is why we have debates in the House. It is not about making some symbolic act. It is not about trying to make some sort of statement. It is about achieving a tangible, positive result. That is what we need to do. It is not about not having acted.
When we went to Geneva last year in July, we achieved a framework agreement that allowed us the ability to continue to negotiate in the way we wanted. The supply management organizations that were with us in Geneva, although not thrilled with the overall prospect of where we had to go, were satisfied that we had been able to maintain that.
We have taken trade action in the past and we have been successful. We were successful in respect of pork in the United States this past year. We have been successful in our latest NAFTA issue in respect of wheat. We have been quite willing to defend our agricultural industry in the international trade arena. The hon. member, in fairness, did point out quite clearly that we have appealed the CITT decision and we have dealt with the issue of labelling.
There are other issues we need to deal with and we will. However, at the end of the day it is not about symbols. It is about achieving a tangible result, and that is to reach a conclusion that allows for supply management to continue in our country and to allow for those 20,000 plus producers to pursue agriculture in a way that makes good sense for them, that works for our producers and consumers and works for the industry as a whole.