Mr. Chair, first, it is unfair to say that because we are not farmers that we do not care about agriculture or about farmers.
I grew up next to a mixed farm. My family was in the mink business. I was never in mink farming. I was not in farming. My father was a school teacher. That does not make me a professor. The farmers in my riding educate me about agriculture.
I was very pleased when the minister came to my riding to meet with a group of farmers from all sectors of agriculture in my riding. It was not a public relations exercise, nothing was advertised in the media, nothing was said first. He sat with them for over two hours and heard their concerns and suggestions. He answered them very honestly about what he could do and could not do to assist.
He did not leave them with false promises and false hopes. He left the farmers very confident, as I am, that there was a minister of agriculture who was honestly doing his best to advance their cause and advance their industry so they could feed their families and invest in their families' futures.
There have been changes in the numbers of farms and in my riding also. There used to be a dairy in every little village. Now there are very few dairies. There is a cooperative that is run by the farmers. The last one I think owned by a family I think was Cook's Dairy out of Yarmouth. Incidentally, it produced the best milk in the country. Their logo used to be “You might be able to whip our cream, but you can't beat our milk”. I thought that was very good.
This has changed and the number of farms in the area have changed. The farms tend to be bigger businesses and less of them. This is unfortunate in a way, but it is a natural progression of the market.
What we have to ensure is that they survive and that there is a future for rural Canada and a future for the agricultural business.