Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, the Standing Committee on Health and the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food are now putting together a committee which will study the long term impacts of the GM labelling.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 53% of the vote.
Genetically Modified Organisms March 29th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, the Standing Committee on Health and the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food are now putting together a committee which will study the long term impacts of the GM labelling.
Transgenic Foods March 28th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the member should at least wait until June to see what is in the advertisements rather than criticize something she knows absolutely nothing about.
Transgenic Foods March 28th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, that party and the people who criticize us for giving information to Canadians are the same people who accuse us of hiding information on biotechnology.
What we are doing is providing information to Canadians on food safety and biotechnology in Canada.
Agriculture March 24th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, they call $3.3 billion nothing. The province of Manitoba will not receive any less in safety net moneys than it does today.
That is in addition to the $60 million we recently gave it in the $435 million in the new safety net program. This is there and the details will be figured out between the provinces and the federal government over the next short period.
Agriculture March 24th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, leave it to a party that was to cut $600 million from the agriculture program to find fault with a government that will be providing $3.3 billion over the next three years.
As a matter of fact his province of Manitoba will be held harmless with the new arrangement. It got 60 crisp, brand new 60 million dollar bills just a short time ago. In addition, it will be getting another $40 million so they will be held harmless with this program in the future.
Agriculture March 23rd, 2000
Mr. Speaker, today is a great day for federal-provincial co-operation. It is also a great day for the agricultural producers of Canada.
After two years of negotiation, our agriculture minister plus his 10 colleagues from across Canada have agreed to a three year farm safety net agreement. The main components of this agreement are $665 million per year over the next three years for basic farm safety net funding plus $435 million per year over—
Supply March 20th, 2000
What profession are you in?
Canada Post Corporation Act February 23rd, 2000
Mr. Speaker, it is abundantly clear that the federal government recognizes the importance of the agricultural sector and the significant hardships faced by farmers. This is one of the reasons for our long history of support programs and continuing efforts to help farmers.
As the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River knows well, the federal government contributes $600 million annually for support programs such as crop insurance, NISA and companion programs. However, the severe economic problems led to numerous improvements to existing programs and the establishment of AIDA, with a federal commitment of nearly $1.1 billion for the 1998 and 1999 crop years. These measures are helping farmers cope with the current difficulties.
In contrast to the hon. member's comments, AIDA has been of benefit to thousands of farmers in the prairies and many others across the country. AIDA has already paid out nearly $500 million for the 1998 crop year alone, with roughly half of that amount going to the prairies. Further, we expect that the balance of federal-provincial AIDA funding will be spent once 1999 applications are processed.
With respect to the next two crop years, we recently announced an additional injection of $1 billion, increasing the federal government's contribution to $2.2 billion.
Hon. members may rest assured that the federal government will continue to work closely with provincial governments, and we are working closely with provincial governments to ensure that sufficient disaster assistance is provided in the most timely manner possible.
Division No. 690 February 21st, 2000
Madam Speaker, the changes which the government has introduced to the AIDA program will benefit many producers across the country. We will now be covering negative margins. Negative margins occur when a farm has a particularly bad year and the operation has insufficient revenues to cover variable costs like fuel, machinery repair and chemicals.
What will also help farmers get through these tough times is that they now have the option to make a choice in 1999 of a reference period on which the payment calculation for AIDA is based. They will be able to choose either the previous three years or three of the previous five years where high and low income years are not counted. This is called the Olympic average. This will be a real help to farmers as they will not need to count a low income year that they may have had due to flooding, drought or some other occurrence beyond their control.
Furthermore, in response to industry requests, on January 13 the Government of Canada made a new commitment of up to $1 billion for the next two years to design a new disaster program to assist those producers most in need and to help them get through the tough times the hon. member referred to.
The government continues to improve AIDA in response to input from farmers and members of parliament, such as the hon. member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex.
The Late J. Angus Maclean February 16th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, Prince Edward Island and Canada have lost one of their most distinguished citizens. J. Angus MacLean, a long-time member of the House and a former premier of P.E.I., died yesterday.
The man everyone knew as Angus served our province as opposition leader from 1976 to 1979. He was premier from 1979 to 1981. He retired from leadership but continued to serve his constituents as their MLA for another year.
Prior to his tour of provincial duty, Angus was one of the members of parliament for the dual riding of Queens in Prince Edward Island, which became the riding of Malpeque in 1966. He served in the House in a most distinguished fashion for 25 years. During that period Angus was Minister of Fisheries from 1957 to 1963.
Born on a small farm in 1914, Angus never lost his affinity for the rural way of life. He left the island to serve his country in World War II in 1939. His aircraft was shot down, he spent 10 weeks behind enemy lines and finally made his escape to safety. Decorated for his heroics with the RCAF during the war, Angus returned home to his beloved province and a life of public service.
A man of principle, Angus drew respect from people of every political stripe. His common sense approach and sense of fair play endeared him to all. His droll sense of humour also served him well.