Debates of April 6th, 2006

Agriculture

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Chair, I want to congratulate you on your new promotion. You are going to do a great job.

Since this is my first time to rise in the 39th Parliament, I want to thank the great people of Selkirk--Interlake for putting their faith in me one more time.

Agriculture is extremely important to my riding. There are over 5,000 farm families in Selkirk--Interlake. I understand this agriculture crisis all too well. I am a farmer. My parents are farmers. My brothers and their families are farmers. I hope that my children will have a career in farming as well. My daughters are very passionate about agriculture and are thinking about studying agriculture and coming back to the family farm. I want to make sure they have that opportunity. The way things were going under the Liberal government, I was not sure that was going to happen. Now I see there is some hope for the future because the new Conservative government is bringing in policies that mean there will be a long term, prosperous outlook.

Since I was elected in 2004, it has been a familiar occurrence in this place to have late night debates on the future of agriculture and the issues facing us, such as BSE, agriculture income, avian flu, and the list just seems to go on and on. We know there is a problem, but finally we have a Minister of Agriculture who has taken the time to be here with us all night. He is a minister who understands the problems and is going to bring in policies and the changes to make sure that we do have that prosperous, long term outlook.

I also want to thank the Prime Minister who took the time to be here and address the committee, to talk about the problem of agriculture and his vision of agriculture, where we need to be going down the road to make sure that there is long term sustainability. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture have been very open to talking with members of the caucus, to sitting down with the parliamentary secretaries, with the ag committee members and with members from caucus here who have a great deal of knowledge in agriculture. They have been talking about the future, the problems and the possible solutions that we can bring forward.

We have heard a lot tonight about the farm safety net programs that are in place today. Farmers in Selkirk--Interlake and across Manitoba and Canada absolutely hate the CAIS program. It has not worked. The only people I get phone calls from who seem to enjoy it are the accountants. It is way too complicated. We have to move forward and find a new program that is a lot easier to administrate, that can be done at the farm and that is a lot more responsive to the needs of farmers.

This government has responded very quickly. There was money that had been budgeted by the last Liberal government, but for whatever reason it had not been sent out. Finally when we came power, that three-quarters of a billion dollars was sent out to farmers in an expeditious manner. It is getting out there right now as we speak. Another $500 million per year over the next five years will also be going out to ease the pain on the family farms, but there is no doubt that that still is not be enough. We have to look at other ways to restructure the industry.

The biofuel strategy is one which a lot of us are getting excited about. There are great opportunities in the biofuel industries. We need to use those competitive advantages. We know that the WTO is important. We have to have a successful negotiation if we are going to address the needs of agriculture. We have to have a balanced approach that takes into consideration the protection of our supply managed industries but also makes sure that we free up markets for the other 80% of agriculture in this country. Ninety per cent of farmers in Canada are dependent upon grains and oilseeds and the markets for beef and pork. They need a world global market. We have to address that.

This government will address those issues. We are going to make sure that the regulatory impediments are removed so that we continue to advance the agriculture industry. I look forward to the future as the new government and the great new Minister of Agriculture move forward in addressing the problems facing our farm families.

Mr. Chair, I would ask for the consent of the House to waive my question time so that my colleague from Leeds--Grenville could have a chance to speak on issues facing the farmers in his area of Ontario.

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Chair, we agreed earlier that we would allow a Bloc speaker. We would agree to two or three minutes from another speaker from the government, but we definitely want to abide by the agreement that there be one more speaker from the Bloc.

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Is there unanimous consent for the proposal from the hon. member for Malpeque?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Mr. Chair, I congratulate you on your election to your new position.

It was a little over a year ago in the fall of 2004 upon my election to the 38th Parliament that I was here late one night talking about the farm income crisis. This debate tonight hardly does it justice. It is great that we are here talking about these important issues. Unfortunately I only have a few minutes but I could stand here for hours and go through all of the problems in agriculture sector by sector in my riding from beef producers and the BSE problems, dairy issues to do with supply management, and the grains and oilseeds issue that we are dealing with. However I will limit my comments to just one of the most urgent issues in Leeds--Grenville today.

Leeds--Grenville has a diverse agricultural industry. It is one of the leading economic engines in my riding. Working with my colleagues in government I will do anything and everything I can to make sure our domestic agricultural industry remains viable. I do want to talk about the most important issue in my riding today, the biggest crisis we are facing, and that is our corn producers who are agonizing over their options and in many cases their options do not include farming.

Unfortunately, our corn producers, who are competitive with any producers anywhere in the world, are dealing with everything that is going on in terms of all the subsidies and the corn countervail. Corn producers are losing money on every bushel of corn they are producing. A plant in my riding called Casco produces many corn products and sells its products into the United States. With prices going up through the countervail, it has to compete in the United States which could put 150 jobs at risk.

I do want to commend our Prime Minister and our Minister of Agriculture for stating tonight that we will solve the problems and we will come forward with programs that will work for our farmers. We should also thank our Minister of Agriculture for staying on tonight. It is great that he spent the whole night with us.

I really hope we can be standing here in the very near future with solutions for the agriculture industry. I know that many of the farmers who are visiting Ottawa stayed very late tonight. They want answers. I am really happy to hear that our Prime Minister and our Minister of Agriculture are coming forward with firm commitments to help our farming sector.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank the hon. member for giving me an opportunity to speak before the debate ends.

I will begin by quoting Laurent Pellerin, the president of the UPA,

There will be two choices, because we have reached a dead end. Either we are told to stop production or we are given the equipment and the same tools as our American neighbours. It is not possible to go on living beside a giant like the United States and not adopt policies similar to those on the other side of the border.

That statement sums up the reasons our farmers' incomes are bottoming out. The past three years have been the worst in the past 100 in terms of net income for Canadian farmers, while they have been the best years that American farmers have enjoyed.

All that is just numbers. The fact of the matter is these are families that have operated a farm for several generations. Today they have to dip into their meagre savings, go into debt and, for many, invest all their assets just to survive until this government assumes its responsibilities. Do not think it is because they are not competitive. If we compare production costs on American and European farms, we can see that our farmers are often the best.

The situation can be explained by the amount of support the Canadian government provides to the farming sector. In 2002, according to OECD figures, support per capita to the farming sector in Canada was US$192, whereas it was US$317 in the United States, US$304 in the European Union and US$438 in Japan.

Farmers in Quebec want the minister to come up with real solutions to improve their income. They want to have a decent income again, to regain their dignity and their pride in being farmers. They also want the government to put in place real solutions that, in the long term, will offset the effects of American farm subsidies and the international trade rules that threaten the very existence of farms in Quebec and the rest of Canada.

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

It being 11:15 p.m., pursuant to the order made earlier this day, the committee will rise and I will leave the chair.

(Government Business No. 3 reported)

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 11:17 p.m.)