Madam Speaker, I am giving some of my time to my colleague from Fundy Royal.
I will preface my remarks with some personal history. I grew up on a small family farm in Saint-Philippe, where I worked the land and ran a dairy operation with my mother and father. I never finished high school because the farm income could no longer support our family. There were four of us kids, and I had to drop out at 15 to help my mother with the cows and the crops while my father worked off the farm.
In 1976, my mother got sick. She had brain cancer. She died two years later. I knew then that I would one day take over the farm.
I went back to school to learn what I needed to know to gradually take over the farm during the 1980s.
I can assure you that I know a thing or two about being a farmer. Running the farm on my own, I had to deal with all kinds of challenges familiar to many Canadian farms: crops destroyed by fickle weather events; accidents; contagious diseases that swept through the herd; and all the financial stress farm families deal with.
That is why I am pleased to rise to speak to tax fairness for all Canadians.
This gives me the opportunity to say how important it is to our government to maintain the vitality of Canada's agriculture and agrifood industry. I have spoken with the Minister of Finance personally, and he has said many times, as we all have, that the tax benefits designed to help family businesses grow, create jobs, and innovate will not be affected. I would also like to clarify a few things.
First, our proposed tax changes will not increase the tax rate for farms.
Second, they will have no impact on the ability of farmers to incorporate, invest, and pay family members salaries to work on their farm.
Third, farm owners will continue to benefit from a lifetime capital gains exemption of up to $1 million for their farm properties. When they sell their farm assets, they pay capital gains on the proceeds of the sale up to a maximum of $1 million.
Fourth, the proposed changes will have no impact on the ability of farmers to pay family members a salary for working on the farm.
Let us be clear. The Minister of Financeand the Minister of Agriculture know that farmers play an essential role in the country's economy, and that is why we want to be sure that the measures we take are the right ones. We are listening to farmers' perspectives, and we have repeatedly met with industry representatives. We listened to farmers' views to determine if and how it will be possible to transfer farm businesses to the next generation. I can guarantee that we will be considering the agricultural sector's perspectives as we move forward.
The changes we are proposing would eliminate the tax advantages that only the richest Canadians can benefit from. To make things clear, these changes are not aimed at middle-class Canadians and small business owners. They will only affect a small number of particularly well off corporations.
We support small businesses, we support family farms, and we support the contributions that they are making to our communities and our economy.
We are going to make sure we do not create more red tape for hard-working, middle-class small businesses. Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding any unforeseen consequences for our tireless farmers.
I would like to assure my colleagues that the government will not be changing the tax measures meant to help family farms grow, create jobs, and innovate. We are well aware that farmers face unique risks and issues as businesspeople. That is why we are working together with them to make sure our programs provide the tools they need to explore new opportunities.
Beginning on April 1, 2018, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership will target federal, provincial, and territorial investments of more than $3 billion over 5 years to help the sector innovate, grow, and prosper. The partnership will focus on priorities that are critical to unleashing the sector's growth potential, including research, innovation, domestic competitiveness, and international trade. Under the partnership, producers will continue to have access to business risk management programs that are comprehensive, responsive, and accessible.
The Canadian agriculture and agrifood industry is one of Canada's most important economic drivers. We are talking about a sector that, from farm to table, accounts for over $100 billion of our GDP and over $62 billion of our exports. Trade is an important priority. It is estimated that almost half of the value of Canada's agricultural production is exported. We are the world's largest exporter of canola, flax, pulse crops, and wild blueberries, and the third largest exporter of wheat and pork. Canadian agri-food exports are increasing by about 10% every year, and our goal is to expand exports to $75 billion by 2025. We are working tirelessly to reach that goal.
We are proud to have signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Europe. The industry estimates that that agreement will help increase Canadian agrifood exports by $1.5 billon a year, which is good for farming enterprises, job creation, and economic growth in Canada.
Asia is another important market for our industry. Its middle class is expected to increase by three billion people over the next two decades. Exploratory discussions to examine the potential of a free trade agreement with China have set a goal of doubling trade between our two countries by 2025.
We are also looking at entering into an agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, one of the world's fastest-growing economies. In addition, we are working with the United States and Mexico on an ongoing basis to strengthen the North American Free Trade Agreement, which quadrupled North American agricultural trade over the past two decades.
To get our products to our international buyers reliably and efficiently, we have brought in provisions to support rail transportation. Research and development are key to Canada's agricultural success on a global level. Continued public and private investment in research is critical if Canada is to help feed the world.
Canada has the best farmers and food processors in the world. We will keep working with all farmers, with family farm businesses, and with all of our food processors on tax and all other issues to ensure that our agricultural sector remains a global leader and the Canadian economy's top job creator.
