Mr. Speaker, I commend my New Democrat colleague from Joliette for introducing Bill C-661, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (transfer of family farm or fishing corporation).
It is a step in the right direction to promote the transfer of a farm or fishing corporation to a family member. This bill will help address some of the problems facing family farms and the next generation of farmers. This bill is common sense, which is why I will vote in favour of it and why I will try to ensure that it is passed unanimously.
In my speech today, I will try to show how this bill is in line with the ideas the NDP has been proposing for four years and how it is essential to keeping our agricultural sector healthy.
First, Bill C-661 is consistent with the work my New Democrat colleagues and I have accomplished in the agricultural sector. Compared to the Conservatives, we truly value farmers and family farms, and this bill is yet another example of that. Since the Conservative government came to power, it has shown that it favours big corporations and big producers at the expense of small ones. The best example is omnibus Bill C-18. Although it was necessary to make amendments and updates, the government did not listen to small farmers. Instead it chose to favour the big plant breeders. As a result, my colleagues and I were forced to present a number of petitions signed by hundreds and even thousands of farmers and Canadians who were critical of many aspects of Bill C-18.
W raised some problems In committee and we proposed solutions to those problems by way of amendments to this omnibus bill, but as usual, the Conservatives outright rejected our amendments.
Historically, the NDP has been the only party that has a proven commitment to helping family farms and small farmers, since we understand the vital role they play in the economy, in our regions and in our society.
The bill introduced by the member for Joliette is also in keeping with the pan-Canadian food strategy proposed by the NDP. We are the only Canadian party to have proposed a plan that indirectly strengthens regional economies by encouraging people to buy local.
At present, we are lagging behind the other OECD and G8 countries. Great Britain and Australia have already successfully adopted this type of strategy.
The NDP believes that a comprehensive food policy would stimulate the local economy and stop the increase in food insecurity in Canada. It would also address farm accessibility issues.
Our “Everybody Eats” policy would have been a good way of helping the next generation of farmers, supporting farm succession planning and reviewing the fiscal framework for farming businesses to be successfully managed. Support for the agricultural sector is a societal choice that the NDP is prepared to make, unlike the current government.
As we have seen, the government has yet to announce the compensation it will offer to dairy producers for losses incurred as a result of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, despite a number of promises, including the unanimous adoption of my motion requiring:
That...the government [respect] its promise to dairy and cheese producers of Quebec and Canada who will be affected by the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union, by: (a) revealing details without delay related to the compensation that will be paid; (b) providing for an implementation period for the agreement that is as long as possible; (c) putting an end to the circumvention of tariff quotas and the misclassification of products at the border; (d) maintaining high quality standards by imposing the same production and processing requirements on imported products; and (e) committing to provide support for commercialization.
Unfortunately, there is still nothing on the table, except for more worries about supply management being sacrificed in future trade agreements.
We see that the agriculture sector is only of use to the government for balancing its budget and electioneering.
Let us not forget the fiasco resulting from the Conservatives' changes to the rules for temporary foreign workers in the agricultural sector. That sector was already struggling with a labour shortage when the government further complicated things. Its bad management cost Quebec farmers nearly $54 million.
I encourage all members to get on board and vote in favour of Bill C-661 because it is critical to maintaining our agricultural system in the short, medium and long terms. Why? Because it acknowledges the realities of the agricultural sector.
For many years now, the agricultural sector has been facing a number of problems related to the next generation of farmers and transferring farms. This has given rise to a new phenomenon: the dismantling of farms.
Those problems include a reduction in the number of farms, growing indebtedness and the ballooning cost of farm assets, which is sometimes as much as $5,000 per acre. This increase in the value of agricultural businesses, which is inflated by land speculation, boosts the value of farmers' assets but does not improve their liquidity, which is essential to transferring farms.
In Quebec, over the past 23 years, the value of land has jumped by 600%. Over 8,000 family farms have disappeared over the past 10 years. The number of farms in Quebec is decreasing every year, and all across Canada, the next generation cannot afford market prices.
At the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, on February 26, 2015, Pierre-Luc Lacoste said, and I quote:
...farm transfers are...complicated....Transfers are extremely expensive and lead to a loss....Mechanisms should be implemented to help farmers...
That is exactly what the bill introduced by the member for Joliette does. It would allow farmers to save time, money and worry by reducing the bureaucratic and fiscal complexities of transferring a farm to a brother or sister. Furthermore, it would facilitate joint ownership of farms by brothers and sisters. At this time, 50% of farm transfers fail. That is an alarming statistic.
If we want to prevent more and more dismantling and a decline in our agricultural production, it is our duty as parliamentarians to make sure that this bill passes as quickly as possible. It appears to be a step in the right direction, because it solves some of the problems caused by the current reality in the agricultural sector.
To the NDP, the choice is clear: we must support family farms and the next generation of farmers as best we can. That is how we will ensure the vitality of the farming sector and our regions.
Farmers know that they can count on the NDP to stand up for them. We believe in an economy of entrepreneurial farmers, and the best way to achieve that is to help family farms by giving them more flexibility, less paperwork and substantial savings on accounting costs.
Quebeckers who are concerned about all the land that is being bought up can count on us to provide clear solutions to help family farms prosper and ensure that they can be transferred from one generation to the next.
I want to thank the hon. member from Joliette once again for her bill and her work. I hope that all the parties and all the members of the House will study this bill and vote in favour of it soon.
