Mr. Speaker, it is a distinct pleasure to rise in the House to talk about this report and the amendment put to it. It is truly an honour to represent a riding of farmers. It will come as no surprise to the majority of people in the House that Pontiac is mainly an agricultural riding. All along the Gatineau River and the Ottawa River are farms. Settlers, whether they were Irish, Scottish, or French, picked this part of the country to settle because of the quality of its farmland.
They are worried. We cannot hide that, and they are right to be worried. It is not only the dairy farmers in my riding who are worried, but also the beef producers. It is mainly because of the lack of information. It is also because there are certain assumptions made, due to messaging from the government at the very beginning of the negotiations of CETA, about supply management that have, frankly, proven to be false.
In fact, supply management is being undermined by the measures of the Conservative government. It is called importation of a certain amount of product, which actually affects the supply management chain. One would think that before launching something of this magnitude, we would do the fundamental market research necessary to determine where our strengths and weaknesses are. When we go to the negotiating table, we would have that information with us to ensure that we negotiate a good deal for Canadians. That is just fundamental work.
I happened to have the privilege of being part of the original committee that went to Europe to study the free trade agreement. There were a couple of issues brought up by the Europeans. For example, back then they were worried about having their geographic indicators respected. We met with some of the agricultural industry in France. It spoke with particular concern about this. It also talked about the possibility of having Canadian beef flooding its market. It talked about GMO products. All of my colleagues on that committee across the way who joined me will recall those words.
That was the picture then. This is now. What seems obvious to me is that we have caved in on every single one of those worries that our European counterparts had. I do not call that negotiating. I call that lying down and allowing them to step all over us, and for what reason? All of us have to ask that question. What agricultural industry is pushing the Conservative government hard enough to put into question some pretty fundamental measures in place in our economic structures to protect our family farms and, particularly in Quebec, supply management?
There is another elephant in the room with regard to CETA, and many of the European colleagues brought this up. I remember asking this very pointed question of the negotiators that we met in Europe. I asked what guarantees there were that this agreement would go through all of the different legislatures that make up the European Union. There was not a single person we met during that trip who could answer how and if that were going to happen.
Does it surprise me that we do not have a bill dealing with CETA in front of us? No, because one thing that the Conservative government fundamentally did not take into consideration was the reaction of the national state members of the EU. We saw how that reaction blew up for the government when Germany suddenly decided that maybe it was not such a good deal. That is Germany, a major player in the European Union, but we have not dealt with the vast majority of the countries that are part of the European Union.
How can the government guarantee us today that all the member states are going to approve this agreement and it will go forward? That is the elephant in the room. That is probably why we have not seen anything come forward. Conservatives expect us to agree to this agreement without actually seeing the bill come to Parliament.
I will give a bit of context to this. I do not recall, but it has to be a couple of years since the Conservatives began this negotiation. Did we ever see a single text? We actually had to get the Europeans to leak a draft text to us so we could see it. What kind of transparency is that? They are touting it as the most fundamental, greatest, most magnificent trade deal ever in the history of Canada, well beyond NAFTA. When did we get the draft of NAFTA? If we go back and check the history, we will see that the process of NAFTA was 90% more transparent than this one. Therefore, I do not understand why, fundamentally, they did not make this information available to Canadians sooner.
Members can understand why farmers in my riding, in that kind of context, would be extremely skeptical with regard to the impact this would have on their lives. We have to take into consideration that there are not all that many family farms left in Canada. There is nothing wrong with industrial farming, but it has fundamentally taken over our agricultural market. There are very few family farms.
A family farm is not just an economic unit. A family farm is a community. A family farm is truly the heart of communities like Shawville, Campbell's Bay, Fort-Coulonge, or Gracefield. What is allowing these family farms to survive is a very reasonable, cost-effective, and very efficient supply management system. The Europeans subsidize their farmers massively. They would not stop doing that under this trade agreement. Therefore, tit for tat, we have to make sure our farmers remain competitive.
Let us talk about beef, because the Conservatives are touting that this would have a fundamental impact on the amount of beef that would hit the European market. The beef producers would actually have to modify the way they produce beef, particularly with hormones. Hormones have an incidence on growth rates, so we have to keep that in mind with regard to the amount of production that can go forward. We have to check that with the amount of beef that can actually be exported. Also, if that transformation is going to occur, where would the transitional money come from to allow those producers to go forward, change the way they do their production, and export. Fundamentally, that is a change that matters to the farmers of the Pontiac.
Because the member of Parliament opposite suggested that perhaps this report should go back to the committee, I would like to move the following subamendment. I move:
That the amendment be amended by adding after the word “negotiated” the following:
“and the Committee only report back to the House following the introduction in the House of Commons of all implementing legislation and the announcement by the government of all transitional measures, including financial compensation.”