David Anderson

[Business of Supply, May 14th, 2009]

Madam Chair, it is good to be here tonight. I want to acknowledge the minister's willingness to be here tonight and his patience with the questions he has been asked. The knowledge that he shows on his files and portfolio has been outstanding and very impressive. I would also like to acknowledge the team that works with him on the ag committee. It is a team of very knowledgeable people. One of the things I notice about the caucus on this side of the House as opposed to the other side is that we have farmers over here. We have producers. We have people who work on the ground, who work the land. It seems to be very difficult to find any of those on the other side.

The challenge we face is how we allow our farmers to be competitive. In one area, this government is committed to bringing market choice to western Canada in order to make our farmers competitive. Under the strong leadership of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Government of Canada will continue to fight for farmers' freedom. The government will keep working with western Canadian grain farmers to ensure that they get the freedom they want.

We are going to continue to work to ensure transparency for producers and taxpayers as well. I am going to talk about that later. The CWB had significant losses in the financial markets in the 2007-08 marketing year. There has been no public performance review of the programs that caused those losses. I would like to look at CWB's ability to market grain. There is a lot of emotion attached to this issue. The best thing we could do is look at the results that have been studied that show what the Canadian Wheat Board is actually doing.

The Data Transmission Network, or DTN, has been an innovator in production and delivery of news and information since 1984. It is a trusted source that gathers agricultural information and publishes it. The DTN tells us that the average of U.S. elevator bid prices shows that for the last three years, the Canadian Wheat Board has earned less than farmers south of the border. This is one of the reasons western Canadian farmers are very unhappy with their marketing situation.

In 2007-08, the Wheat Board's final price on red spring with 13.5% protein was $1.70 a bushel below the U.S. average market price for similar wheat. The year before, the Wheat Board final was $1.17 per bushel below. The year before that, the Wheat Board again fell short of the U.S. average price by about 70¢ a bushel. I want to point out that it went from 70¢ to $1.17. Last year when the Wheat Board was touting itself as a huge success story, its final wheat price was actually $1.70 a bushel below the average posted in the United States.

[Forestry Industry, May 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the member opposite that we are determined to minimize the adverse impact of this measure on our domestic forest sector. To do that, the minister has been in contact with the forestry industry. We are considering all options. Utilizing this green tax credit to subsidize U.S. pulp mills is clearly unacceptable, and she has been in contact with the Obama administration to correct this issue.

[Forestry Industry, May 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we understand that this subsidy has had an adverse effect on our forestry communities and our forestry pulp industry, and we are moving ahead to deal with that. The minister has talked to Steven Chu in the United States about this issue.

However, everything that we have done, the NDP has opposed. It opposed the EI extensions. It has opposed the community adjustment fund. It has opposed the market development. It has opposed the new technology and transition. Everything that it stands for is opposed to progress in the forestry sector.

[Forestry Industry, May 14th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows full well that we have reacted to the forestry sector pressures. I can go through a whole list of initiatives that this government has taken, including the access to the $5 billion in new credit that he seems to disparage. We put $170 million to support market diversification, innovation initiatives, which will certainly improve the forestry sector in the future. We have extended the accelerated capital cost allowance. We have eliminated tariffs on machinery. We put $1 billion into a community adjustment fund.

We are working to get the job done for Canadian forestry communities.

[Infrastructure, May 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, let me inform the member what we have done for western Canadian rural communities. We put $1 billion in the community adjustment for rural communities, $500 million in agriculture flexibility programs, and $50 million to strengthen the slaughterhouse capacity. We introduced changes to FINCLA to make it easier to get credit. We have provided $600 million to kickstart agri-stability, agri-recovery, agri-invest and agri-insurance. We have developed bankable, predictable and stable programs.

Every one of those things the NDP opposed.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, May 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that Canadians know what is in their food and where it has come from. It was left to us to solve this problem. The Liberals were in power for 13 years and never did anything about this. Canadians told us they wanted an answer to this problem. We have delivered on that.

Let me read what the member for Malpeque, who fancies himself an agricultural specialist, said when we brought in these regulations. He said, “The new regulations provide consumers with honest information on the contents they purchase and the changes could also increase the consumption of Canadian products”. This is good for Canadian producers, good for Canadian industry.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, May 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians had a legitimate concern about what was in their food. They wanted to know what was in their food. We delivered on that.

They know that it is unpalatable to have foreign products and foreign ingredients listed under a product of Canada label. The old Liberal system allowed that to happen. We have put a stop to that. We are working with producers and the industry to make sure this system works for them.

[Taxation, May 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that the Conservatives are the only ones they can trust to manage the economy during this financial crisis. Our economic action plan has measures in it that are stimulating the economy and putting more money back into the pockets of Canadian families. Already with this plan we have reduced taxes by $20 billion.

This is in stark contrast to the Liberals, who last weekend reaffirmed their eternal commitment to raising taxes on Canadians. At their recent convention, the Liberals once again adopted a job-killing carbon tax policy which would devastate agriculture in my riding. We also know they want to increase the GST and end the universal child care benefit.

To make things even worse, the leader of the Liberal Party recently announced that he will have to raise taxes. He cannot keep hiding the details of this tax hike policy from Canadians. When will the Liberal leader come clean with Canadians, tell them which taxes he will raise, by how much he will raise them, and who will be forced to pay those taxes?

[Energy Efficiency Act, May 6th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I think we and the opposition need to recognize and acknowledge that this is going to have a significant impact on emissions. The 1992 act regulated products. This goes much further than that. It would allow us to put products into classes so that we can regulate them as groups, not individually.

There are a number of other amendments in there. I read one out earlier that would give the government broad authority to regulate basically any product that uses, affects or controls energy consumption.

Certainly, as I mentioned earlier, Canadians are the ones who are going to determine the true impact of this bill. As they make their decisions about the products they purchase, that is going to have an impact on how much this affects our environment in a positive way.

However, I want the member's opinion. Does she not believe, and I think the NDP does because it is supporting the bill, that this would have a significant impact on emissions and on the environment across the country?

[Energy Efficiency Act, May 6th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I actually want to talk about another aspect of the bill that we have not really touched on today. One of the things that this government is famous for is its commitment to accountability and that started right from the very first bill that we introduced in the first Parliament when our government came to power.

There are a couple of sections in the bill that deal with accountability and I would like the member's opinion. One of them reads:

Once every three years...the Minister shall demonstrate the extent to which the energy efficiency standards prescribed under this Act are as stringent as comparable standards established--

There are a number of jurisdictions listed such as provinces, the United States, Mexico and others. There is a second accountability provision as well that reads:

Within four years after the day on which this section comes into force, the Minister shall...demonstrate the extent to which energy efficiency standards have been prescribed under this Act for all energy-using products--

I wonder if the member is satisfied with the energy reporting requirements in the bill. She seemed to be at committee, but I would like her to talk about that a little.