Peter Stoffer

[Agriculture, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I want to welcome and congratulate the new member representing his riding for his party.

I certainly will not get into what 13 years of Liberal neglect has done but I will ask the member some pointed questions about the future of the farm family, especially in his area. As he knows, the cities of our country are the engine of our economy but it is the rural areas that fuel those cities. I have been working on fisheries issues for many years and I have seen the plight of plant workers and fishermen who have lost their livelihood because of government policy.

A few years ago our caucus introduced ourselves to some Saskatchewan farmers. They told us that thousands of families were leaving the farms as we spoke. This was over a couple of years ago. We know that many of those lands are still producing because it is the large agri-businesses that now have that control.

Some of our farmers are now reaching the ages of 58 to 60 years old and many of our young people are saying that agriculture is not for them because they do not want to suffer the way their parents have suffered. I will throw a lob ball to him because the member is fairly new and I may end up liking the guy in the future. I want to help him out. I would like to give him the opportunity to give advice to the government. First, how would he entertain the possibility of enticing young people to take up agriculture as a livelihood, the very proud livelihood that it is?

Second, what would the member do to prevent the agri-businesses from having complete control of the farms and bring back some semblance to the family farms so that those family farmers who are independent and proud businessmen can carry on that tradition now and in the future?

[Agriculture, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the hon. member's comments, but today in the Saskatchewan legislature farmers were giving away loaves of bread for 6¢. A loaf costs 8¢ to produce and regularly costs over $1 to buy. So my question is quite clear. Just what is next? Ethanol and all of that will be great, but eventually the fuel companies will do exactly what big agribusiness is doing to our farmers.

What is the plan of the Conservative government to ensure that we do not see any more headlines that say agribusiness is making record profits and farmers are making record losses? What will be the plan to eventually put more money from the initial product into the hands of farmers and their families? For example, instead of 6¢, why are they not getting 20¢?

[Agriculture, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I welcome you to your new position. I am glad to see you are wearing your Legion pin, sir. It is always a good thing to support veterans and their organizations.

I had a very lovely supper this evening and I want to thank the farmers who produced it. I thank them very much. It was a very healthy and substantial dinner. I greatly appreciate their efforts and their families' efforts in providing the nourishment for members of Parliament to debate their issues in order to make their lives a little better.

This is a take note debate. The first thing I want to note is that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the minister himself are honourable, decent, hard-working family gentlemen. I will provide them with a few notes in order to move this issue forward and get control of that department. I have said for many years that the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food is running amok with the lives of our farmers.

I will provide a little history lesson on what is happening to farmers and businesses, especially small ones, in the province that I come from, Nova Scotia. There was a company called the Dew Drop Gardens, which produced hydroponic tomatoes and cucumbers, and was doing everything it could to cut its costs. The problem was it could not get its products on the supermarket shelves. Why? Because the competition among the supermarkets themselves had shrunk from six to three and then to two major supermarkets in the province of Nova Scotia, Sobeys and Superstore, and that is it. It pains me.

I can assure everyone that agriculture issues are not easy to solve. The minister is going to have a tough row to hoe, as they say in the field, in order to move this file forward. Things such as international competition, domestic concerns dealing with provinces, and weather concerns make it very difficult. He will not solve all the problems. I can assure everyone that we in our party will do everything we can to support the initiatives on a proactive basis.

The government will not solve the crisis unless local small family businesses and producers can get their products on the shelves. It will not solve the farm crisis when a box of cornflakes costs $3.60 and the producer only gets 7¢. It will not solve the problem of the farm crisis unless the farmer gets more than double or triple that amount. If farmers were getting 25¢ for that box of cornflakes, they would not be here.

If we do not solve the problem of domestic market access, corporate control of agribusinesses, delivery and everything else, the next time farmers come here, they will leave their tractors, trailers and combines with the keys in them and a note saying, “They are all yours. We are done. We are finished”.

In 1986 I went to the exposition in B.C. The most popular pavilion was the green and gold grain elevator from Saskatchewan. I visited it twice. It was wonderful. More people, especially the foreigners, visited that grain elevator than anything else at expo, but at the same time, grain elevators were being destroyed and taken down in the prairie provinces. Instead of having a close enough elevator where the farmers could bring their products, they ended up having to truck their products much further distances on very bad roads.

All of these various concerns have caused farmers and their families tremendous problems.

Supply management is extremely vital to this country, but the Conservative Party from 1993 onward was never a big supporter of supply management. In fact, the position of that party has changed over the past few years. By the way, I greatly appreciate that the Conservative Party has done that. Farmers have a right to be nervous when representatives appear before international boards, the WTO and others in order to move this issue forward.

Not only does the government have to defend the interests of supply management, but it has to get the industry minister to also say very clearly that he supports supply management. The government also has to deal with the agribusinesses and get corporate control of the domestic supply of stores and everything else in this country so that our farmers can deliver their products locally and get a fair price.

[Agriculture, April 6th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I am proud to ask a question of my hon. colleague from P.E.I.

We, in the NDP, remember all too well the drastic cuts to the farm community from 1993 to 1997, which the then Reform Party supported without reservation.

We also know that the problems in the agricultural industry just did not happen overnight. These are long term problems that have been happening to our farm families. The Liberals had 13 years to correct some of those problems but, unfortunately, they failed on most counts.

I have a question for the member who is a farmer himself. A few years ago our caucus had farmers and their families from Saskatchewan visit us. I asked a young 12 year old boy if he planned to go into the agricultural industry or into farming in the future and he said no. I asked him how many kids in his school planned to go into the farming industry and he said that nobody he knew.

Because of the lack of attention paid by previous governments and the current government, we are asking who the farmers of the future will be. What does the hon. member think will be the future of our farm families in this country?

[Income Tax Act, April 6th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-215, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (community service group membership dues).

Mr. Speaker, we would not have the society we have today if it were not for the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who support various charities and issues throughout our country. The dues they pay, for example, to Lions Clubs, the Kinsmen, the Legion, churches or whatever should be 100% tax deductible.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Internet Child Pornography Prevention Act, April 6th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-214, An Act to prevent the use of the Internet to distribute pornographic material involving children.

Mr. Speaker, one of the most despicable things in our society is Internet child pornography. We need to do everything in our power to stop this or mitigate it to its lowest level.

One of the things we can do is have ISP providers partially responsible for monitoring their sites and passing that information on to our authorities so we can track down these low-lifes and scumbags, as we call them, and stamp out child pornography. We need to do everything we can to protect the innocence of our children.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, April 6th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-213, An Act to change the name of the Electoral District of Sackville--Eastern Shore.

Mr. Speaker, in my riding is the largest indigenous black population in Canada. The community is called Preston, a very historic community in our country. I think it would honour them and our country if the name of my riding were changed to Sackville--Preston--Eastern Shore.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Canadian Autism Day Act, April 6th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-212, An Act respecting a Canadian Autism Day.

Mr. Speaker, quite simply, on April 23 of this year and every other year we would like to have that day recognized as national autism day, so that people such as Laurel Gibbons of Ottawa and Roxanne Black of British Columbia and their children could be recognized on what these children and their families go through on a day to day basis.

By having a national day in honour of this, we could then possibly turn our attention to further research and further assistance, so we can find a cure for this neurological disorder. By highlighting this day, we also highlight the abilities that these beautiful children have and what they can provide to our country as well.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Canada Health Act, April 6th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-211, An Act to amend the Canada Health Act (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

Mr. Speaker, there are 346,000 children in this country that have autism spectrum disorder. Unfortunately, the federal government does not play a role in their lives at all. We are asking the federal government to assist the provinces and territories with financial funding through the health care system to provide the treatment that these families can then give to their children.

It is unacceptable that 346,000 children and their families are left out of the Canada Health Act all together. This bill would include those beautiful children so that they would have a chance at a quality of life that we all take for granted.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Sale of Medals Prohibition Act, April 6th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-210, An Act to prohibit the sale of Canadian military and police medals.

Mr. Speaker, we have all seen it, medals that are worn by the bravest of our Canadians are for sale at garage sales, on the Internet, or in various flea shops around the country.

I believe that the medals that the men and women of our military and RCMP wear are not currency that they have dangling from their chest. They wear those medals in honour of their sacrifices, in honour of their colleagues, and in solemn remembrance of those that left before us.

I do not believe that those medals should be sold for profit. I believe that they should be honoured in the tradition that they have been worn by the bravest of our Canadians. This bill would prevent the sale of those medals.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)