Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's question, but it also shows how out of touch the government is with the realities of farmers across this country.
The farmers in British Columbia are not like the farmers on the Prairies. We talk about western alienation. I can see that it is alive and well when we see agricultural policies when it comes to British Columbia. For many of our farmers, although trade has increased, real farm income has decreased. We also see that many farmers in this country have to work off farm. They need off-farm income in order to survive. The member talked about increased markets, but these farmers are barely making a living.
I want to see some real investment in some of the small farmers in this country. I want to see some real investment in government procurement policies that say that we will buy local. I want to see some real investment in local processing facilities. The current and previous governments' failure to recognize, for example, chicken processing and some of the meat regulations has meant that the farmers on Vancouver Island have had to get out of the business. They have to ship their livestock over to Vancouver. That increases stress on the livestock and increases the farmers' costs. We want to see some meaningful small farm policy.