Mr. Chair, it is a pleasure to rise in the House again to speak to this very important topic this evening.
We have a crisis in agriculture, a crisis in rural Canada. I think all sectors are feeling the crunch of commodity prices and the crunch of a lot of things.
On the issue of supply management, I would like to take the time first of all to thank those in my constituency who approached me before and during the election. They recognized that I am a grain farmer and a beef producer. They took the time to sit down and ask me what my beliefs were and what was the policy in our party on supply management.
I have always appreciated that the supply management folks would not just fall for some of the fear tactics that some of the other parties have used even here tonight, but to question me on this issue. I think of one dairy producer whom we call the senator who milks 400 cows up by Wainwright, Charlie Rajotte and his family. We are always invited to their kitchen table to listen to the frustrations, the concerns, the advantages in supply management and also to voice our own policy and to satisfy him.
The member has served on the agriculture committee for a long time. As a member of the foreign affairs and international trade committee, today at our committee hearings we had the Minister of International Trade. When asked questions in regard to supply management and to article XXVIII, he indicated that the government would not be invoking article XXVIII and would not be supporting the use of article XXVIII. He went on to say that the agriculture minister has a number of options that he will use, that he will let us know about, which would help the supply management.
Many of the people who have been advocating protectionist supply management have talked about article XXVIII. What are these options of the Minister of International Trade? I see the agriculture minister explaining some of the options to the member. Could she relay some of the options that may be used to protect the supply management?