Mr. Chair, I am splitting my time with the member for Okanagan—Coquihalla.
I relish the opportunity to speak on such an occasion although in a certain sense I wish I did not have to, but because we are in this crisis in the country, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of my constituents in the Saskatoon—Wanuskewin riding of Saskatchewan. I particularly appreciate speaking on behalf of those many rural Canadians in my riding who have been directly affected by the very difficult circumstances surrounding BSE or, as we also know it, the mad cow controversy.
I especially appreciate the fact that our Conservative Party requested this special take note debate on BSE, the very first debate in the new Parliament. That reflects the importance to the Conservative Party of agriculture and the whole crisis we are in, for which we have solutions. We have offered them before, in fact in February of this year, in terms of how to address this whole issue.
As we know, the last estimate of the cost of the BSE crisis to the Canadian beef industry and rural economies has been put at more than $6 billion. More than 4,200 jobs related to the beef industry have been lost, according to the government's very own figures. These are large numbers, but each dollar and each job loss represents a real person, a family and the livelihood of a good many people in my riding of Saskatoon—Wanuskewin and throughout the country. Lives have been turned upside down by this crisis we face.
Just last week, one of our big city papers, far removed from some of the rural areas where the crisis is, picked up on it and reported how one farmer lamented that the banks were foreclosing or coming at him, “closing in on him”, as he said. The very day before BSE hit, his cattle were worth nearly $1,500 apiece, he said. Since then, he has had to sell some for as little as $350 a head, not even covering the cost of his feed. His equity loss, he estimates, is in the range of $200,000 to $250,000. Farmers across the country are losing their farms, their homes and their livelihoods.
Instead of quickly developing a coherent, thorough and responsible solution for helping farmers through this difficult time, the Liberals used empty rhetoric. One example of that was given by the leader of the Conservative Party last week when he talked about how the Liberals, in full election mode, promised farmers that the U.S. borders would open up by the end of this past summer. Really, they had no justification for making that kind of claim. There was no movement on the ground. There was nothing being done. It was nothing more than cynical electioneering on the backs of Canadian farmers.
Back in February of this year, our Conservative Party proposed a comprehensive agricultural strategy that would have enabled a flexible and rapid response to the BSE crisis, which was upon us even then.
Our plan included topping up the 2002 Canadian farm income program from 60% to 70% payouts to full 100% coverage. It also included a mature livestock rationalization program. Our Conservative program included replenishment of Canadian agriculture income support programs for BSE-affected operations. The Conservative program of February of this year also included the establishment of testing regimes for all non-North American markets as well as working toward integrated North American rules and processes.
The latest measures announced by the government on September 10 are long overdue, but they are woefully inadequate and administratively bungled. The Liberal plan is only half of what our party proposed.
The essential component for a long term solution, as other members have pointed out, is for Canada to increase its own slaughter capacity. The investors and the developers are ready to go. Now they need to find out what federal funds are available to them and how these funds can be accessed so construction can start.
As well, a lot of that long term solution obviously involves the re-opening of international borders and the advocates and ambassadors for our beef industry out there in the borders beyond, of the Americas and elsewhere as well. The federal government needs to be aggressive in respect to this.
Canada also probably needs to do a chapter 20 challenge. We have had individual producers doing a NAFTA chapter 11 challenge. The government needs to step up to the plate now as well.
I could go on at length to tell the House about some of the flaws that are popping up now. We are seeing it in the CAIS program, another badly managed program, where constituents are now calling in and indicating what the problems are. We need to change that. We need to fix it for the good of our producers and the farm folk all across our country, and in my riding in particular, where I am beginning to become aware of the flaws and the problems of that program.
The Conservative Party will not accept the status quo but will demand that the Liberal government set up agricultural policies that work, policies that are responsive to the real needs of farmers without violating the independence and the dignity of these valuable, hard-working producers across our country.
