House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2004, with 55% of the vote.
Guaranteed Income Supplement February 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Social Development boasted about seniors' improved quality of life and attributed this progress to the efforts of the former finance minister and current Prime Minister.
It would be interesting if the Prime Minister, the former finance minister, explained to seniors why he granted retroactivity to his own company in Barbados, when he is denying them retroactive GIS payments they are entitled to?
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I have a very brief comment. Thanks for this testimony. I think the hon. member spoke more eloquently than I did about the distress of people confronted to a problem they did not cause. This problem does not seem to be getting all the attention it deserves.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for his question. In fact, I am very familiar with the farm mentioned in the open letter. Saint-Maurice will be in my riding.
The point I wanted to make when I raised this issue earlier is that the human aspect is often forgotten. I know these producers, as well as just how hard they worked. From one day to the next, they find themselves in debt, although they are not at fault in the least. Others are responsible, not them. It is extremely frustrating.
One of my colleagues, another member, had asked me to meet with a group of producers. I referred to a suicide. In our region, one producer had had enough, and he killed himself before the meeting. We met with producers to talk to them, to try to encourage them and tell them that the House was going to debate the matter and try to get the government to reflect in order to provide some security so people can get through this crisis.
There is always a human aspect in this kind of issue. We must not forget that, as I said earlier, agriculture is probably the industry that creates the most jobs and doubtless the most important jobs. We live on this earth, but this earth also feeds us. We need someone to farm it.
Once again, I ask the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to do the impossible to provide security to the producers who need it.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I agree completely with the hon. member. I think that the way I expressed myself might have given the impression that I was only talking about my region. All Canadian farmers are faced with this problem.
It is true that there was no mention of this in the throne speech. It is true that this problem seems to be going right over the government's head. I think we must spend whatever is necessary. Government spending has increased by 39% in the past five years, which amounts to several billion dollars. We must invest the money needed to help farmers get through this crisis. Farmers must not be the only ones paying and losing their livelihood.
I am certain that the hon. member also knows people who, near the end of their lives, realize that their pension fund has become worthless because of a system for which they are not responsible. In my opinion, we can help these people more.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, if your house goes up in flames, you have insurance to cover it. In Quebec, we had crop insurance. We also had an entire management system to assist farmers. However, when damage is caused by an outside party, for instance, if someone sets your house on fire, no one asks how much it will cost to restore it.
When the ice storm hit, did anyone ask how much it cost to repair the damage nature had caused? It is the same for the Saguenay flood. We reached into our pockets and the governments invested the necessary amount of money to help people get through it.
I have not calculated how much it will cost. However, one thing is certain; the current crisis will cost Canadian and Quebec agriculture a fortune in the medium and long terms. People need more help. When a person loses $500 an animal and it is not his fault or responsibility, it does not matter how much it costs. He should be compensated.
The government dipped into the employment insurance fund with its $45 billion. Maybe we could take half a billion, a billion or a billion and a half from the fund to help farmers get through this crisis that they did not bring on themselves and for which they are not to blame. It is the least we can do to show support.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I have listened since the debate began earlier this evening. I also asked a few questions. I realize the scope of the problem.
I was in farming for many years. I participated in farm unions. I am the son of a farmer. I have had the opportunity to talk about, discuss and be involved in the farm union movement to try to resolve major problems facing Quebec farms. It seems to me, however, that this kind of problem is infinitely more serious than those we had in the past.
Our agricultural system worked relatively well, at least in Quebec. Since 1993, we also had a relatively safe system in terms of animal health and quality. Everything is jeopardized because one mad cow was found in western Canada. Because Quebec's different and distinct nature is not recognized, many Quebec producers are once again paying the price for something totally beyond their control.
Quebec produces 50% of all milk in Canada. With regard to cull cows, Quebec experiences 50% of the problems affecting dairy herds. Why, for example, were some regions not spared?
Imagine the farmer in Champlain who is faced with the problem of a mad cow some 3,000 kilometres away from him. There is no chance of contamination. And yet, no one has ever wanted to work on a regional basis and recognize the regional differences so as to at least save some money. This region might suffer less, leaving more money for those more affected. Still the idea of working in such a system was rejected.
All evening, hon. members have been talking about borders, travel, opening borders, opening markets. I notice that we are forgetting that, in our system of agriculture, at the bottom of it all, there are human beings. They have worked all their lives to establish viable and pleasant businesses, some of which are worth a lot of money.
A farmer came to my office and told me he was a millionaire. He was getting ready for retirement. His pension fund was in his beef cattle, in his animals. He was 59 years old and a millionaire and then, suddenly, he was worth nothing. That is something. That is major stroke of bad luck. I think that we are forgetting the human being in all our discussions.
The human being is at the base of this industry, the the most important one in the country. Agriculture is the industry that creates the most jobs in the country. It is the one that keeps our food supply somewhat secure.
Just imagine for a moment if we lost our agricultural industry. I know this impossible, but it can certainly be severely damaged. Imagine for a moment if we relied on foreign countries for food. What would if cost us? This industry does not concern only the farmer, it concerns all consumers and citizens. When agriculture thrives in a country, the country thrives. In Quebec, when agriculture thrives, so does Quebec because it relies on agriculture to generate jobs.
I believe it was the member for Yellowhead who mentioned earlier how many jobs are created by agriculture. It is significant.
I do not understand how we can abandon the farmers in such a crisis. After they have spent their entire lives working for themselves, of course, but primarily for others, I do not understand why this country cannot come up with the necessary funds to help them get through such a crisis.
I witnessed the Saguenay flood and the ice storm. You heard about it since the ice storm hit Ontario too. I went to see the Red River in Manitoba when it flooded. I went to see what was going on. During all these major disasters, which are called “acts of God” and for which we are not responsible, the government provided help because the individual could not get through it alone.
Currently, the government is not helping enough. It is simple. There are farmers committing suicide. This is happening in Quebec and must be happening elsewhere. I know farmers who had had enough, who were so worried that they took their own lives. This is starting to become a major crisis.
Let us please stop thinking that a trip to Japan, a trip to Korea, discussions with the Americans, or the lack of them, will solve the problem in the medium and long term. Come on, now. What has to be done, of course, is to first solve the problem in the medium and long term.
Someone has said that the problem is not the mad cow crisis, but the mad policy crisis. There are those who are suffering as a result of our policy, who are paying the price. The ones who are suffering do not deserve to have to pay that price, because they are the ones who supply us with food, who create jobs, those we have to trust to develop this country.
I have trouble understanding all this. For example, Quebec has not used the cattle feed that was the cause of the mad cow problem since 1993. Yet, despite the sacrifices made by farmers since 1993, paying a little more to fatten their cattle, how in heaven's name can they now be having to cope with the problem of one mad cow when the cow is 3,000 kilometres away? It makes no sense.
The government will have to pay for this. Not only pay for it, but also make the necessary effort to settle this awful problem. It is not up to a farmer in his twilight years, thinking of retirement but seeing his retirement savings totally depleted because we have not looked after business, because for some reason or other the Americans quite simply want to make us pay.
This system makes no sense. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food must do what it takes. I too am calling for an emergency debate, if that is not what this one is.
People in our area, and people all over Canada and Quebec, are counting on us to help them get through these terribly hard times.
I am therefore asking the new Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, whom I have heard described as being more competent than the last, to sit down with the rest of cabinet and see that the necessary funding is in place to help people get through this crisis.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I find this debate interesting but somewhat discouraging. I put myself in the place of the farmer who is struggling with a painful financial situation and who hears that we are travelling and that we will improve the situation in the future.
But what are we going to do now? There are people who are at the end of their rope, who may not get through the winter, and who cannot afford to lose money the way they are losing it now. The question is this: while we are, understandably, working to improve the medium- and long-term outcome, what can we put on the table right now? What will we give to the farmers so they can get through the winter, so they are able to wait until things get better, while we are working on improving the situation?
A farmer came up to me and said, “Listen, they are giving us $1 a day to feed our animals, but since we need more and more feed, and since we cannot sell the cattle but have to give them away, that dollar is not worth anything”. Rising costs wipe out that dollar and more.
And therefore, I ask this of the minister. In this emergency, on behalf of the farmers who are at the end of their rope, what can we do? Is the minister prepared to lobby to get some money put on the table in order to help the farmers, who are not in any way responsible for the current crisis?
Resumption of debate on Address in Reply February 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, my colleague called my attention specifically to an issue that interests me a great deal and that I defend with vigour.
I would like to hear my colleague on another issue, namely democratic reform, but since I have only two minutes, I will try to be brief.
With respect to democratic reform, does the Prime Minister, who prides himself on wanting to reform Parliament, not have an excellent opportunity—talking about seniors and the guaranteed income supplement for instance—to listen to MPs who unanimously expressed at parliamentary committees the wish that those who were robbed when they did not get the guaranteed income supplement be reimbursed? I would like to hear my hon. colleague on this.
Social Programs February 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in the throne speech, the government claims to want to strengthen Canada’s social foundations by changing the way things work in government, particularly with respect to programs to provide seniors with income assistance and care when needed.
If the government is as concerned about the situation of seniors as it claims to be, what is it waiting for to provide full retroactivity on the guaranteed income supplement it owes seniors?
Guaranteed Income Supplement November 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the efforts of the Bloc Quebecois, the government has finally seen the error of its ways by providing 23,000 surviving spouses of veterans with access to the benefits they never knew they were entitled to.
In keeping with this gesture, and since, through its own fault, this same government has deprived seniors of the guaranteed income supplement, which they were entitled to, will it finally admit it was wrong and make retroactive payment to eligible seniors?