Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Foothills.
Today, I would like to acknowledge the important work that the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food has done over the past few months. I will quote in particular the 18th report, which is on food price stabilization across the country.
Let me be clear, we agree with majority of the committee's report and its recommendations. However, some aspects of the report need to be highlighted, and Canadians need to be aware of the Liberal government's policies and decisions that are contributing to increasing food prices and jeopardizing Canada's food security.
Unfortunately, this is a report that was done twice, which is a waste of both the House's precious resources and time that Canadians do not have to waste. Two years ago, we finished the same report and tabled our findings, but the government chose not to respond to any of our recommendations. That is a big part of my frustration. At the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri‑Food, we work very hard together, but few of the recommendations have been implemented by the government since I have been a member of that committee, which is nearly four years. I am very disappointed because we gave this a lot of thought. Our work and the recommendations we make reflect the importance that should be given to the agriculture sector and agri-food development.
Last year, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry wrote to the committee asking us to study this very subject as part of what I consider a politically motivated PR stunt. He did not even realize that the initial report already existed. This happened in the space of three months. The Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry said that he would stabilize food prices by Thanksgiving of 2023, but he did not keep his word. In the report, as well as the Conservatives' dissenting opinion, we find many solutions that could be implemented today to help ease the difficulties facing all Canadians.
I would like to list a few of the most important solutions.
Witnesses at every meeting brought up the carbon tax. It is wiping out our farmers' revenues and forcing millions of Canadians to use food banks. The cost of farm inputs and transportation is skyrocketing, and the upshot is that more and more Canadian families are going hungry. One in five Canadians is skipping meals just to survive.
However, my “Liberal Bloc” colleagues will say that the carbon tax does not affect Quebec. How out of touch with reality can they be? Just yesterday morning, I met with people who were telling me about the impact that this tax is also having in Quebec. We do not produce everything in Quebec, and most of the products that come from Canada are directly affected. This tax also affects grocery prices. Every time a Quebecker shops at the grocery store, they indirectly pay the carbon tax, which, as I just said, is applied to goods and transportation all along the supply chain. Farmers and homeowners also pay the carbon tax directly when they fill their propane tanks with propane, which is all imported to Quebec from elsewhere in Canada.
The inflationary deficit is another important point. The government has dug us into such a deep hole with inflationary deficits that future generations will have to pay the bill for years to come. Farm succession plans are in ruins, and the next generation does not even know if they will continue farming. They can thank the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP for that. Food bank usage has never been higher. Millions of Canadians have to turn to food banks to put food on the table.
In my riding, an organization called Moisson Beauce, which serves over 50 organizations throughout the greater Chaudière-Appalaches region, is struggling to meet demand. I can corroborate that information. I met with people who work at this organization just 10 days ago. It is extremely sad. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life in Beauce. These comments come from the people and the many volunteers who work at the food bank.
Risk management programs need to be improved. As my Bloc Québécois colleague mentioned earlier, I do not know how many of the committee's studies have recommended reviewing all risk management programs and aligning them with the realities of the agricultural sector in 2024.
Considering the changing weather conditions and financial realities, such as rising interest costs, the government must take the lead and make significant changes to further protect farm families. Last year, 44% of fruit and vegetables were sold at a loss. That is an alarming number, and it raises the question as to why the government is not doing something about that. It would rather bring in produce from abroad by truck or plane while taxing farmers and causing unnecessary pollution with all these imports.
Revenues continue to fall. Net farm income in 2023 in Quebec fell by 42.9%, which is quite significant. One in five farms in Quebec have also reported not being able to repay their debts because of rising input costs, transportation costs and, especially, interest costs in recent years. The cost of the Liberal carbon tax is also one of the main reasons, and it needs to be axed now.
An important issue I would like us to look into is the fertilizer tariffs. There was the incoherent Liberal plan to charge a 35% tariff on Russian fertilizer, which is still in place today and is costing farmers a fortune just to run their operations efficiently. The government made that decision at a time when it was extremely difficult to procure fertilizer at a reasonable price around the world. Farmers are being fleeced, paying much higher than market value for the fertilizer they need to grow crops and feed the public.
Our party and many stakeholders have called for this tariff to be removed and the money returned to farmers, but the Liberals refuse. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has even made an exception in recent months so that critical minerals from Russia are exempt from tariffs, yet she still refuses to give farmers a discount on such essential products as fertilizer. All of that to say that the government's ideological pursuit of penalizing greenhouse gas emitters through carbon tariffs and taxes without properly recognizing those who have been mitigating, eliminating and sequestering greenhouse gas emissions for years, if not decades, is short-sighted.
Inflationary taxes and bad policies increase production costs for businesses and farmers, contributing to higher prices. We cannot tax farmers, truckers and grocers without impacting consumers at the grocery store.
A Conservative government will act quickly to remedy the situation. Fortunately, all parties will have the opportunity to make a common-sense decision this Wednesday to bring down the Liberal government. Canadians will be listening, and I hope my colleagues will move in the right direction.