Lawrence MacAulay

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, February 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I assure my hon. colleague that we have been listening to farmers and that we are responding to farmers. In fact, we invested $100 million in agricultural science. That is much better than cutting some money in agricultural science.

An innovations fund of $1.1 billion is available to agriculture. We have agreed with the provinces and territories to put the CAP, the Canadian agricultural partnership, in place; $3 billion for the agriculture and agrifood sector; and it goes on. In order to increase trade, we have approved CETA and we have agreed to the CPTPP.

[Agriculture and Agri-food, February 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure my hon. colleague that the government is committed to the financial success of our fruit and vegetable farmers.

We will be creating a single dispute resolution body, which should resolve the majority of non-payment incidents faced by our producers. Working with farmers, today we are going to make a number of announcements that will indicate just how much more we fully support the agriculture and agrifood sector across the country.

[Agriculture and Agri-food, February 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is, as I have said many times, we are the party that implemented supply management and we are the government that is going to protect it. We are going to put programs in place in order to make sure that our food and vegetable sector are also in the trade to export around the world. We also put a program in place after CETA to make sure that the dairy industry itself was on the cutting edge, $250 million. We put another $100 million in place to make sure that the processing sector was in place. We have and will continue to—

[International Trade, February 9th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the CPTPP gives farmers and ranchers across the country a great opportunity, and of course it would put dollars in their pockets. This government has supported, and will continue to support, the supply management system. It is the party that fought to put the system in place, and it is the government that will continue to defend it.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's question.

The fact of the matter is, as I have said many times in this House, we are the party that fought to implement supply management and we are the government that is going to defend it. We have done that with action, with the innovation program for the dairy sector.

The CPTPP gives opportunity for all the agricultural sectors right across this country, which is a significant opportunity. With that, we fully understand how important supply management is for this country. We have and will continue to make sure that we fully support the supply management program.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's question because it gives me an opportunity to indicate in fact what we have done. We put a $350 million program in place and ordered that $250 million would be put to the dairy farmers in order to make sure they remain on the cutting edge.

I can tell my hon. colleague and the House that $25 million of that has already been approved. What it is doing is making sure that the supply management sector in the dairy industry remains strong and on the cutting edge.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the dairy farmers are here today. In fact, I have sat down with the dairy farmers, all of the supply sector, on numerous occasions.

When this CPTPP has been signed, I will sit down and discuss the path forward, to make sure that our supply management that this party put in place, that this government will defend on a united front, I might add, and the agricultural sector, continue to thrive in this country.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this dairy agreement will give significant opportunity to our farmers and ranchers right across this country. The government fully understands the importance of the supply management system. In fact, this is the party that initiated supply management and this is the government that will defend supply management.

That is why we are sitting down with the dairy industry across this country in order to work a plan forward, to make sure that the dairy industry and all our agricultural sectors remain strong in this country.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, February 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

This trade agreement will open up doors for producers across Quebec and all across the country, whether it is beef, pork, grain, or our world-class maple syrup products. In Japan alone, tariffs of 70.5% on Canadian maple syrup and maple sugar will be eliminated in three years.

This will create more growth and more opportunities for our maple industry, put more money in the pockets of our producers, and help more people join the middle class.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, January 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's concern. He is certainly fully aware of the issue in India and that we are very disappointed the Indian government decided to put a tariff on without any consultation, not only with Canada but worldwide. I have visited other countries and made sure that this type of practice is totally unfair. Our officials are dealing with the countries and with India and trying to resolve the issue.