Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your intervention. It is difficult to speak in the House when people are talking.
As I was saying, I represent 87,605 constituents. One of the issues they are greatly concerned about is forestry. I have spoken at length about it in the House. There is no longer an agreement in place and we are heading straight toward taxes, which has many of my constituents worried.
The riding of Jonquière is agricultural. There are many dairy producers and farmers. Throughout my remarks, I will speak about the concerns we have with the agreement, concerns that the Liberals are simply ignoring. I will then wrap up by talking about the NDP’s position on how the government should act, if it will listen.
There is a lot of work to do before the agreement is fully ratified. As I just mentioned, in my riding there are many dairy producers, including a cheese factory. Fromagerie Blackburn has been a family farm for over 80 years. It is amazing to see dedicated people working every day on the farm. There are seven full-time employees, five of them at the cheese factory and two on the farm.
This cheese factory, which opened in 2006, produces six different cheeses and has won various prestigious awards. I am very proud to speak of it in the House today. Its Mont-Jacob cheese, in particular, recently won the silver medal in its category at the World Cheese Awards, in November 2016. I will not hide the fact that I get a little emotional when I talk about it, since this cheese has the same name as my son, or vice versa. Regardless of the name, I am very proud of Fromagerie Blackburn.
It also won the silver Caseus Grand Champion award in the 2013 Sélection Caseus competition and the Super Gold award at the 2011 World Cheese Awards, which is handed out to the 50 best cheeses in the world. This is all taking place in Jonquière, in my riding. I am very proud of the Fromagerie Blackburn and of all the people who work there.
I said I was proud because this cheese factory has won many awards. However it will also be affected by the Canada-Europe agreement. That is sad, because it is doing very well. Unfortunately, because of what is coming, it may have to make sacrifices and let some employees go. That makes me sad.
This is not just about this cheese factory, but also about our dairy producers. After months of waiting, the compensation promised by the Liberals for the dairy industry’s losses due to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and Europe, CETA, will in the end be far less than the losses suffered by the producers.
After abandoning our dairy producers on the diafiltered milk issue and undermining supply management, the government has decided to get by with a minimum of effort, instead of giving its all. Sometimes I wonder whether the government wants to bite the hand that feeds us. The producers are not competing on a level playing field with their European counterparts, who are heavily subsidized.
Given the time, I will continue after question period.