That is unfortunate. Just talking does not help. My Liberal colleagues laugh at me, but the point is that they are in the position to do something and they have failed to do it. That is why it is time for the Conservative Party to take government, so that not only we will be able to talk about it, but we will actually be able to help our producers, other than simply giving constructive criticism, as I am doing tonight.
The poor Liberal showing at the WTO negotiations and the political and economic pressures from the WTO are forcing Canada to reduce tariffs on all agricultural products, including those in the supply managed sector. What my farmers in the supply managed sector are asking is, what are we receiving in return? They say they are being sacrificed. They are being told they have to give this up, and yet they see no tangible benefits coming back to them as farmers.
Canadian farmers have suffered from poor ministerial representation at WTO negotiations, and I think the recent example—and perhaps members have already mentioned it, but it has been mentioned to me—was the Liberals shirking their duties to Canadian farmers at the mini-ministerial conference in Kenya on March 2, 2005. At this meeting, member countries discussed their commitments to the Doha round, and the international trade minister and the agriculture and agrifood minister were not meeting because they were attending the Liberal convention.
I know that Liberal conventions are important. Politics is important. That is what makes this place go, but one would have thought they could have spared one minister to go there. I will say why it was so important to at least send one minister. Under the rules of the mini-ministerial, without a minister present no other representatives of that country are allowed to speak officially.
That is an example, I would suggest, of simply neglect, a poor choice of priorities. As important as the party might be to the minister, I think he could have sent another minister if he did not go himself. A minister should have been there speaking on behalf of our farmers.
I had some other points to make, but I know that the time for my remarks is coming to an end. One of my concerns about the recent NDP-Liberal budget was the fact that the NDP said it arranged $4.6 billion more for big cities but not a dime for the agriculture industry.
I was disappointed that our agriculture industry was overlooked by the NDP. If that party is going to get into bed with the devil, it should at least help people who need help. That is a problem. The NDP has a lot to answer for by refusing to acknowledge the difficulties farmers are facing. Big cities are important, but what about the smaller family farms that we need to support in order for Canada to remain a strong independent nation?