Madam Speaker, one of the joys of being a member of Parliament is that one gets to learn about issues that one might not otherwise be aware of if not for being in this place.
In my case, I have been learning a little bit about diafiltered milk, having met with the Dairy Farmers of Canada earlier this year, and now through this very well-worded, specific, concrete motion that has been brought to the House on how to actually fix this situation.
The problem, as I understand it, is that there are rules for the composition of cheese in Canada, but certain milk proteins, such as diafiltered milk, are being used and counted against the allotment for actual milk when in fact they are not milk.
How do we know the diafiltered product is not milk? It is because the Canada Border Services Agency says it is not milk and does not charge duties on it as it does on milk.
This is really just an instance of government needing to appreciate and understand its own clearly written rules for the importation of milk proteins. The government needs to recognize that and then follow through on it when it comes to the way our cheese is produced.
When the government fails to do that, as it has been, it means that there is competitive pressure to use the cheaper product. It is cheaper because it can be imported without being subject to the same duties as other milk. When that is counted against the quota for milk, it means that Canadian milk, which would otherwise be used for that purpose, is at a competitive disadvantage.
Therefore, all we are asking is that the rules be fairly enforced so that Canadian producers can sell the milk they produce, milk that actually meets the requirements, and get the economic benefit so that those dollars that are being spent can be reinvested in Canadian communities instead of shipped out to the United States. I think that is a laudable goal.
Incidentally, this is why I am often concerned when we talk about larger trade agreements, and there is mention of those here. It is because those agreements tend to tighten the noose, whether it is on Canadian producers in the agricultural sector or on other Canadian workers. In similar ways, those agreements create competitive pressures that either price those Canadian goods out of the market or cause the work and the jobs essentially to leave Canada.
Although it works in a different way, we are seeing something similar in the TPP with the provisions on temporary foreign workers. There are pressures created by allowing companies to bring in workers who can be sent back at any point by their employer and who are therefore concerned about complaining about their wages or working conditions. In this way, downward pressure is created on the expectations of Canadian workers. It is just one more way in which certain kinds of trade agreements end up not benefiting Canadians.
They are not benefiting Canadians, or at least Canadian workers and producers. There may be some few Canadians at the top who make obscene amounts of money because of market access, but if it is not being spread around, I have not only wondered about it but I have also not been able to answer the question of why we should get excited about supporting agreements that may produce enormous amounts of wealth for a select few Canadians while putting many other Canadians out of work or forcing them to work for lower wages and lower benefits.
I think this point is important when the government says that it wants to support supply management. Certainly we heard for a long time from Liberal members in the Canadian Wheat Board debate that they were supporters of supply management for Canadian wheat farmers. However, it is not just about what legislation one brings to the House, but also about what else one is doing. One's right hand has to be talking to one's left hand, and vice versa.
Here is an example of a government that says it supports supply management but then turns a blind eye to the enforcement of its own regulations, the practical implication of which is to undercut Canadian supply-managed producers. If the Liberals want to say they support supply management, that is one thing, but if they want to do something about it, they could pass this motion and follow through on it, because that is what supporting supply management really looks like. It looks like undertaking to do things, particularly the easiest things, which in this case means that the government should enforce its own regulations to make sure that it is not putting Canadian producers at an unreasonable competitive disadvantage.
That is why I was disappointed to see that Liberals members are not standing to support this motion. My understanding is that it was one of their election commitments. They said that within 100 days of being elected, they would solve this problem because it is an easy problem to solve and just requires enforcing.
Members can imagine how they came to have it as an election commitment because when this kind of thing comes into a war room, people are discussing it and saying, “So all we have to do is enforce our own standards? Yes, make that promise. That is an easy one. We can do that. That is no problem.”
I do not understand how it became so difficult to enforce just because they won the election. It was an easy commitment to make, because it is the right thing to do. It is a matter of simply enforcing regulations that are already on the books. It is mysterious to me why we are not already doing that.
In case members are worrying that I am going on at length and they are going to have to listen to me for a full 20 minutes, I would like to let you know, Madam Speaker, that I will be splitting my time with the member for Windsor West. I will put the members in the House at ease by letting them know that I will be splitting my time and that this is not a 20-minute speech. I could go on, but I will not.
However, when one is making a good argument about something important, one needs to make sure that everything gets said and that it gets said well. Sometimes it takes time to do that. Thankfully, today it will not take too long, because I know the member for Windsor West is excited to make good arguments as well.
What is really the issue is one of those things that boggles the mind, because it is simple. It was a clear election commitment. It is about enforcing regulations that are already on the books. We already have the capacity to do this. It simply means keeping money in Canada and standing up for Canadian producers instead of standing up for American producers and allowing that money to go elsewhere.
We have heard from producers themselves that this is something they want. My understanding is that not only the producers who make the milk but also those who make the cheese want it. Everyone is on the same page. The only people who are not are the American producers and the Liberal government.
I just do not understand how they are the ones getting together on this issue. Why do the Liberals not stand up and vote with the rest of Canadians who are concerned about this issue? Then we can move forward and talk about all the many other issues that need to be discussed.
With that, I will finish.