Madam Chair, I was a bit taken aback by the last comments by my colleague on the Liberal side when he said we cannot trade off one against the other. Is it not in fact exactly what Canada is doing at this point?
He in effect said that it is okay for the dairy sector to lose 50% of the ice cream business in this country, to have significant drops, large percentage drops, in the cheese sector and the yogourt sector. Those are going. In fact they are increasing in percentage losses that we are suffering right now.
When he said that we should not be pitting one side against the other, I think that is exactly what the government is doing. The Liberals' decision is not to use article XXVIII, which is there to protect. The United States has used it, Russia has used it and any number of countries have used it to protect sectors within their agriculture sectors.
We are prepared to say that maybe the grain and oilseeds want something else. They are not losing anything in this decision. By not invoking article XXVIII, we are in effect sacrificing the dairy industry in this country, or at least a big chunk of it.
It is ongoing. The member was on Parliament Hill a month ago. He heard the dairy farmers. He heard their plea for assistance from the government. Where are we? Why are we not helping them? Why was the choice made to say, “Sorry, we are prepared to sacrifice you”? The Minister of Agriculture or the Minister of International Trade did not say that to them, but that seems to be the reality at this point. I would like to know why the decision was made to not support that sector and to not go to bat for it.