Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.
As I said earlier, I am not here to criticize past actions by any government. I am here as part of a call to action.
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of a vegetable producer for example. He has to invest between $850,000 and $1 million to sow his field. It should be noted that agriculture has never been easy and nor will it be two years from now. There are external factors such as the weather and a surprise strike at CN last fall. On top of all that, this year farmers do not know if they will have enough workers at harvest time.
Producers are telling me they are going to plant soybeans and harvest it mechanically; that way, they will be okay for a year. They will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they will still be there next year. If they sow their fields with the current guarantees, they risk losing more than $1 million and going bankrupt. They will not do that because agricultural producers are entrepreneurs. Keep in mind that they have to assess the risk.
As a result, there will be a food shortage in the fall and products will be a lot more expensive. We will be dependent on foreign imports provided, of course, that foreign countries will want to send us their goods. Some recent examples might lead us to believe they will not. By the fall it will be too late. We have to act now.