Charlie Angus

[Agriculture, October 12th, 2004]

Madam Chair, in terms of supporting regional capacity and in terms of what the member said about packers, the one thing we can say for sure out of this debacle is that they have made a killing on the backs of our farmers. We have heard a lot of talk about regional capacity but I am very concerned that at the end of the day the packers will be stronger than they were at the beginning of this. They will have more power to undermine any small regional plants that get off the ground. I have not yet seen anything in any of the plans that will support our regional plants standing up to either price dumping or predatory practices on the auction floors.

Does the hon. member have any suggestions about what direction the government might take?

[Agriculture, October 12th, 2004]

Madam Chair, the hon. member raised some interesting points about our need to get the border open.

We are hearing some very disturbing words from stateside that R-CALF is preparing for any moves we make to open the border in terms of injunctions they will bring in so that they can drag this out for years. I am wondering if the hon. member has heard any similar talk from his people in Alberta, because that is what I am hearing in Ontario in terms of R-CALF.

[Agriculture, October 7th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, this is a terrible drama that farm families are living. In fact this afternoon we received an e-mail from a woman who told us that her father is considering shooting the family cows because he cannot wait any longer. I might sound dramatic, but we have newspaper articles of the rise in suicide rates across western Canada. Our farmers are going down one by one.

I appreciate the minister's sincerity on this issue. My concern is that what we are talking about is a year too late. We are talking about ramping up capacity. The big packers are ramping up to 1,000 a day because they can. Our small regional capacity will not be in place in time and we know that.

We know that a loan loss guarantee, as the other hon. member said, will not put cement in the ground. When our members came and spoke in the summer, that is why they said that we needed the plan in place before the beginning of the fall auction season. That has not happened, and we do not know when that plan will be in place.

Therefore, rational business decisions are being made by farmers and, unfortunately, the rational business decision for many farmers is to give up because they cannot go on any longer.

[Agriculture, October 7th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, I want to clarify. Because of our commitment, would we get a floor price for cull cows?

[Agriculture, October 7th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, I will not draw attention to their name, except for the fact that this family drove nearly 1,000 kilometres today on less than 12 hours notice to be here tonight. I will be careful not to mention them by name, but to say that they have lived the nightmare of the closed border, the collapse of cattle prices and 15 months of inaction. I would implore the minister to sometime tonight find time to meet with them and find out what they have been going through.

This family that will remain nameless was here in July with a group of Algoma and Timmins--James Bay farmers to meet with the NDP caucus. We went out and met with the press. They delivered a plea that we needed immediate action plan in place before the fall auction sales. The fall is here and we have a plan but it is not really in place. In fact our farm families are telling us that what we have is all hat and no cattle.

The electronic tagging system for set aside feeder cattle is not ready. Farmers have no idea when it will be ready. We know that they do not know where the forms are. A basic floor price should have been in place this fall, but the government feels that we should have trusted the market. This family that I will not mention went to market, along with a number of other Algoma farm families, and they were killed on the floor this fall. That was the result.

I am sure the hon. minister will tell these nameless farm families to apply to CAIS, but they are not eligible for CAIS, like many other farm families across Canada.

I will mention another family, not by name of course. They are proud Franco-Ontarian pioneers in my riding who opened up farming in my region. Four generations of farm equity was wiped out in 15 months. The father, his sons and his grandsons phone my home every single day because they are their farm. They have taken the machines, they have liquidated the cattle and they are going after the grandfather's house. What do I tell them when they phone me? In this plan there is no debt relief. There is no tax relief. It is just all hat and no cattle. We are being told the promise is that we will advance next year's debt onto this year's debt.

Let us crunch the numbers. In dairy most families have lost $25,000 in the last year and the federal government is coming back with nothing more than $150 to $300 per farm. Top rated dairy cows valued last year at $1,800 a head are being written down for as low as $200 a head. They cannot take that to the bank. The debts are rising, our machines are being repossessed and our support infrastructure in rural Canada is crumbling.

While we are talking about cull cows, I would like to point out that our farmers are now more under the thumb of the large packers than ever. The packers have made a killing and they continue to make a killing. Without a basic floor price for cull cows, animals that should have been worth $400 are being bought up for little more than the price of a pair of rubber boots, and the consumer continues to pay a premium across Canada. Meanwhile, rural Canadians continue to be cast adrift and we are supposed to hope that somehow over the next year market forces will come to bear and help people out.

I know I am a newcomer to this room, but I would like to point out that since 1997 there have been more emergency debates on agriculture than any other single issue facing the House. We have talked a lot and the farm families here tonight have heard a lot of talk. However, the one difference between 1997 and today is that it has only got worse. I implore the minister to work with all of us. It has to stop.

[Agriculture, October 7th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, it is a real honour to stand here tonight. This, obviously, is my first time in such wonderful and honourable surroundings. I would like to put on the record that my grandfather, Charlie Angus, was an immigrant to Canada and a very strong social democrat. He lived and died building the gold mining economy of Timmins.

Now, 40 years later, his grandson is here as a representative of the people of a great and inclusive country. I am very honoured to be here tonight and to speak on behalf of an issue of fundamental importance to rural Canadians. I would also like to say that I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague who can pull me off the floor as soon as I go over five minutes.

At the outset I would like to note that the government did not call this debate an emergency debate. It was a take note debate. Well, take note: we have hardly anyone here from the government side tonight. This is an issue of dire emergency to the families of rural Canada. It is an emergency that is wrecking the fundamental fabric of our rural lives.

I draw the hon. minister's attention tonight to the presence in the House of Algoma Cattle Farmers, Mr. Jack Tindall, his wife and his son.

[Agriculture, October 7th, 2004]

Mr. Chair, in the spirit of collegiality I have joined my compatriots over here.

I would like to ask the hon. Minister this. We are all talking about regional slaughter capacity. That we know is the fundamental need. Yet we know we lost our domestic capacity because we did not support it and they cannot compete against the giants. That is a fact.

I do not see anything in this proposed plan that has been brought forward that will allow these regional plants to survive against the big packers. They have made a killing and they are making the killing now. There is pressure on any regional plant that goes up against them.

At the end of 2005 any of this loan loss reserve will not be in place. What happens when the border reopens and our small struggling plants go up against the big boys in the United States and in Canada? We will be back to square one, which is no regional and domestic capacity.

I would like to know if we have a plan for dealing with that.