Mr. Speaker, I was not expecting that. I thought I would have at least 10 minutes to speak about the matter at hand, namely, the report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. I will stick to the key points.
I asked the member of the government party questions about a fundamental issue, namely the ability of our farmers to compete with European farmers on their own turf. Of course, the government talked about opening markets. We are going to open our own agricultural markets to European producers. At this point in the analysis, my understanding is that there will be no subsidies to compensate for European products being exported here to Canada.
However, our products, whether we are talking about dairy, beef, pork or grain products, could and should be sent to Europe but will have to compete with products that are subsidized. We are not talking about small subsidies. The direct and indirect subsidies that the European Union gives its farmers represent 40% of the European Union's budget or 39 billion euros.
When we talk about supply management, about protecting it and about opportunities for other products to reach the European market, we have to consider the fact that our products will not be competing on a level playing field. I agree that our producers can handle the business-related challenges of exporting their products, but they need a chance to do that in a fair competitive environment.
This problem underlies the issue of protecting supply management. The pillars of supply management will not change, but the new foundation, especially in terms of new import quotas, will be a game changer for dairy producers.
Different parties speak out in favour of supply management. We strongly support supply management, and we have proven it time and time again. While columnists, politicians and commentators have said that we should eliminate supply management, institute a free market and bring in American and European products, I remind members that our agricultural subsidies were practically eliminated under the Liberal government.
I was in Cancun in 2002, I believe, when the Liberal government was all set to completely eliminate supply management until the Doha Round was cancelled because developing countries were reluctant.
However, supply management remains a key issue in the NDP's assessment of this agreement, and that is why I was very pleased to second the subamendment proposed by the member for Pontiac, which would give us a fundamental answer to a fundamental question: where is that compensation for this agreement that the federal government promised to dairy farmers?
I do not see how we could support the terms of this agreement without having the information that the government promised us a long time ago.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me a few minutes to share my thoughts.