Mr. Speaker, first there was the uncertainty over the compensation Quebec's cheese and dairy producers would receive for the potential loss of millions of dollars as a result of the free trade agreement with the European Union. Now the federal government is attacking Quebec's dairy producers once again.
Instead of doing business with local companies, federal penitentiaries will now serve powdered milk shipped by truck from Winnipeg to the penitentiaries in Quebec. For decades, the Chagnon dairy delivered 12,000 cartons of milk a week to the Cowansville and Drummondville penitentiaries.
Will the minister make Correctional Service Canada listen to reason and take it to task for this unreasonable decision?
This not about what tastes better in coffee. It is about the economic consequences that this federal decision will have for this region and Quebec and the job losses that will result.