Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to stand here today. We also have to take note and keep in mind when the Chair changes. As I was rapidly making notes to change to “Madam Speaker”, you showed up and I came back to “Mr. Speaker”, so we have to pay attention on this side as well.
Bonjour to my 337 new friends and colleagues, and I congratulate them on their election.
It was 1959 when my parents brought our family to this particular location and said that we needed to see where the people are who make decisions for us, that we needed to see that they are just like us, regular folks, and we needed to understand that. It is with great honour that I stand here in remembrance of the day that I was here with my parents in 1959. It was also a much different time, because we walked around on the grounds of the prime minister's house at 24 Sussex Drive. It was wide open and a public space, as the Governor General's home is today.
There is another thing that I notice. In the gallery, we have many students who come to view the procedures on a daily basis. I work with a program called “Encounters With Canada”. I would encourage people who have children or grandchildren in the age range of 15 to 17 to have them participate in this great program. It happens 30 weeks of the year. The member for Calgary Nose Hill is a person who learned about politics. She attended the program in high school and is now a representative. There are others in this House who also have done so. If members get the opportunity to be asked to speak to that group, please support that program. About 3,000 students a year come through there. They learn about Canada and about what we do here
As I am humbled to represent the residents of the warm and friendly new riding of Bow River, I promise to work hard on their behalf to the best of my abilities. I thank those volunteers who helped in the campaign. I thank my family—my wife, my children, and my grandchildren—who were out campaigning with me, door knocking, and driving cars for me. It was a great experience for our family.
I would like to address the Speech from the Throne that officially opened the 42nd Parliament. Trade, infrastructure, and environment are topics that were touched upon.
People who have been in this country for many years, as I have been, have had opportunities to see great agricultural areas. In the Annapolis Valley, tremendous apples are grown. In Nova Scotia, people are into vineyards and there is a wine industry growing. In the red, rich soils of Prince Edward Island, potatoes are grown; and there are the green fields and dairy farms around the St. Lawrence River. Have they been to Leamington, Ontario? There are the largest greenhouses in Canada for the agriculture products grown there. There are the golden wheat fields of the Prairies and the canola fields. There are the vineyards of the Okanagan, and many more agriculture products are grown.
What does this have to do with trade? Agriculture in our country is newer in some areas, and there is lots of it. However, in my area there was an explorer by the name of John Palliser, who in 1840 came through southern Alberta for the British government, the area I am in, and said that it was a desert and that there should be no inhabitation of this area. He wrote a report to the government on that basis. The aboriginal people probably thought that was a little weird, if they could understand what he was talking about. However, it was a false assumption.
In this area now we have ranchers and farmers. The ranchers have huge ranches, township size. They are incredibly efficient and modern, with technologically oriented, professional people who work with the soil. The Canadian farmers and ranchers, I believe, are the best in the world. Bow River is part of this region with many of these people. It also has many villages, hamlets, towns, and small cities, like Chestermere, the newest city in Alberta, and Brooks, The City of 100 Hellos. Many members may not realize that Brooks is probably one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Canada, out there on the Prairies. It is also home to a world heritage site, Dinosaur Provincial Park. Most of the world's dinosaur fossils have been found in this location, more than any other place in the world.
Bow River is the location of many large irrigation projects in Canada. Irrigation farmers have tripled the amount of land being farmed, but they have not increased the amount of water they use from when they started. They have increased threefold in efficiency. What other industry sector can say that? The irrigation systems in southern Alberta are recognized as the most advanced in the world in the efficient use of water and the increase to food production per acre.
The types of niche crops in this region have increased significantly. Sugar beets were one of the first. My grandfather was involved in bringing the sugar beet industry to southern Alberta. There are potatoes and hemp. Ninety per cent of the hemp that is grown in Canada is grown in this constituency. There is also the famous Taber sweet corn. Those are just some of the examples of niche crops grown in our country.
Food processors in production across Canada have tremendous facilities. Some of the largest in Canada are located in the Bow River riding. For example, the JBS-Lakeside beef plant in Brooks is capable of processing 4,500 head a day. Where is the beef? I know where the beef is in my riding.
These industries in Bow River rely on exports. It is a critical part of these industries that makes them sustainable. Predictions would suggest that this will be even more important in the future. In the next 30 years, it is predicted that there will be a billion more people on this planet, but more interesting is the prediction that there will be three billion more people living in cities. I do not think the farmers' markets are going to make up the difference for food supply.
Food demand is going to increase significantly, especially when 15% of the food is now directed to biofuels. It is an interesting thing to do with food. There are only seven countries in the world exporting more food than they actually need in their own countries. These countries have sufficient rainfall and river floes to grow more food than needed for their own use. They have highly advanced agricultural industries, and that is what is in my riding.
The Canadian agriculture sector needs export trade to sustain its business. There will be a need in the world for Canada's food. We know why export trade agreements are critical to the agriculture sector and the whole Canadian economy. We can feed our own citizens and others in the world.
This region has significant resources. Coal was discovered by early settlers along the banks of the Bow River. Natural gas was discovered by the early settlers in the village of Tilley when they first drilled water wells and hit gas instead. There are still natural gas co-ops in this constituency today. Oil was discovered a few years later. There are the natural resources of sun hours in big sky country and wind.
Do people know many hundreds of tonnes of coal it takes to produce the steel for one power-generating windmill blade? Do people know which long time, first world country is now producing an increased amount of coal for the production of wind-generating mills? That is a lot of coal being produced somewhere in a first world country, but not this one.
Infrastructure includes roads, bridges, rails, pipelines, and ports. We need to maintain, repair, replace, and build infrastructure to be able to move product to internal and export markets.
Bow River is at the centre of the Canadian Badlands. It is also the location of Lake Newell, the largest manmade lake in Alberta and rated as one of the best sailing venues in western Canada. Surprised to find that on the Prairies? As an old windsurfing sailor, it is fantastic. Tourism is important to be moving people in our country. We need infrastructure.
I know that cities demand rapid transit, for example, but if rural infrastructure fails, how are food products and exports moved to market? There are many small communities in rural Canada that cannot compete with the cities in the grant funding lottery. They do not have the means to have engineered, shovel-ready projects on the shelf, with internal grant writers to fill out applications, as the big cities do.
With 8¢ on the dollar returned to municipalities of tax money that leaves these communities, we need a different system for infrastructure in rural Alberta for products to continue to be moved to market. The infrastructure in 60% of the country is in rural municipalities and not in the big cities. We need a different way to fund it. It is critical to rural ridings to have that.
In conclusion, I believe we need strong export trade agreements for the agriculture sector to be sustainable, to feed our citizens, and to feed others in the world. I believe we need infrastructure to move products to market and to support the many smaller communities in rural Canada. I believe we have thousands of incredible environmentalists, the people who work with the soil.
I have appreciated the opportunity to address this incredible body of dedicated, elected Canadian citizens.