Mr. Speaker, no issue in recent memory has risen as dramatically in the public's consciousness as food security. Literally, within a matter of weeks, Canadians everywhere have started to talk anxiously about the world food crisis. And it is indeed a crisis.
The issues that are affecting the supply, and hence the cost, of food right now are creating the perfect storm. The rising oil prices, collapse in food stocks, price increases driven by speculators, market concentration within the food system, climate change, the world's population increase, and the new emphasis on biofuels, all have combined to create global food scarcity.
Many of these problems are systemic and they will not go away unless we, as politicians, turn our minds to addressing the fundamentals. We just recently had one such opportunity when enabling legislation for biofuels was before this House. Only the NDP voted against the bill, not because we do not support energy alternatives to petroleum but because the legislation gives the government a blank cheque to feed cars instead of people.
The bill will come back to the House for a final vote. I urge members to reconsider their support. The world food crisis should give all of us food for thought.