Ruth Ellen Brosseau

[Democratic Reform, February 14th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps repeating that there are 39 other forms of identification, but the reality is that he is creating obstacles for young voters.

The minister mentioned driver licences, but 25% of Torontonians do not have one. He mentioned student cards, but many of those do not indicate the student's address.

Does the minister realize that by stopping the use of the voter card he is going to further reduce the participation rate of young voters?

[Democratic Reform, February 14th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, when speaking before a committee, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform tried to prove that his bill would increase voter turnout among young people.

He said that, even though his bill will prevent young people from using a voter card as identification when they go to vote. This form of identification was used by 62% of students.

How will he increase youth voter turnout by eliminating this form of identification?

[Employment, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, I asked the Minister of Employment and Social Development to explain why it is taking so long to process the skills link program applications from organizations in my riding.

The minister said that he could not be up on every file. However, I am not talking about a specific file. This is a general problem across Quebec.

Do these delays have anything to do with the fact that the minister wants Ottawa to be in charge of employability measures again?

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, like all those wonderful advertisements we see on TV for the economic action plan, the government needs to take action on this and work together. There is no action on this. It is frustrating to see. We do not need another report. We need action. There are some steps we can take right now to help get this moving. We need action now, not later.

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to work with the hon. member on the agriculture committee. I think he is talking about the Fair Rail Freight Service Act. We had amendments to that act. I wish there had been more collaboration. That is something we do not see with the government. Good ideas and amendments are always proposed from this side, but it seems that they always fall on deaf ears.

I am hoping that the government is listening and taking note. If it wants more information about amendments, we will be ready to help it with that.

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is a tentative deal. I support the rights of workers to collective bargaining. The government freaks out when it hears the word “strike” and has teams working on back-to-work legislation non-stop. I think it already has some on the back burner for this.

This is not an easy issue. However, the government has a big role to play. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has had so many issues in the last two years. We had contaminated meat and listeriosis. What is next?

There needs to be more communication between the agriculture minister, the transport minister, and stakeholders. We have to find solutions and get this resolved as soon as possible.

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

I am not digging a hole. I am proud of it.

For generations, farmers relied on the Wheat Board to get the best possible price for their grain to support their families, but the government ignored the warnings from the NDP, other groups, and farmers themselves when they all went through this. The government refused to listen to the democratic wishes of prairie farmers, who voted in September 2011 to keep a single desk for their wheat and barley.

In the past, wheat farmers could depend on the Canadian Wheat Board to fight and to put pressure on the rail companies to get the grain to market. When the board had a monopoly on selling grain overseas, it also held considerable market influence. However, it is clear that smaller producers are being penalized under this new system as they carry less volume.

In a system that has to move around 400,000 grain cars in a year, there is absolutely no room for error or a shortfall when grain shipments are waiting at a cost of the thousands and thousands of dollars a day, a cost that is ultimately paid by farmers through a lower price for their product. We should be building up our agricultural sector, not penalizing it.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food suggested that farmers should be getting loans to tide them over. That is not very sound advice and threatens long-term financial health. This will only create another financial crisis in the future. Also, a five-year study on the source of the bottleneck is far too slow for producers, who need help right now.

I will mention that I will be splitting my time with the member for Edmonton—Strathcona.

Kyle Friesen, from the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association, put it perfectly, and I quote:

We need to get the grain moving because many farmers may not be paid for last year's harvest until after spring planting.... This is already causing lost sales, things need to improve otherwise this will translate into a serious cash flow issue for farmers when they need to buy seed and inputs this spring.

Like every Canadian, grain producers have bills and loans due.

We need to do better to get the railways moving. Producers deserve better. This is obviously not an easy question to answer. There is no easy answer.

I urge the government to take action in a way that will help farmers' burdens now. The minister has pledged $1.5 million for a five-year transportation study. He has also committed to increasing the monitoring of rail companies. It is a good step. However, the minister needs to look at the issue closely. Both CP and CN have seen their grain revenues go up, even as the number of rail cars available to producers has decreased.

We are urging the government to increase pressure on rail companies, including with the implementation and enforcement of rail performance standards. It is clear that we need new communication protocols and consequences for non-performers when shipping deals are broken. We are also urging the government to ensure that export and vessel information is accessible to producers and that grain producers have fair access to rail infrastructure to move their product. The government also needs to develop a strategy for future rail service that accounts for sustained agricultural growth.

Grain producers across the country are frustrated by the difficulties they are having when it comes to transporting their crops. The problems they are experiencing are driving down the price of grain, and they are afraid they will not be able to transport their crops in the future.

Lynn Jacobson, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, is asking shippers to increase their capacity in order to meet the demand. Farmers are afraid of being passed over in favour of other clients because of the price cap that the railway can impose on grain transportation. The problem is that the Conservative government got rid of the Canadian Wheat Board without coming up with a plan for shipping grain, even though that is something it could have avoided.

Now the Minister of Agriculture is suggesting that farmers use cash advances and is proposing a five-year study on the source of the problem. What are farmers supposed to do in the meantime? Life goes on.

Like everyone else, Canada's grain producers have bills to pay and loan payments to make, and the banks will not wait for them. The government needs to take concrete action immediately to get meaningful results for farmers. The fact that hard-working farmers cannot ship their grain is completely unacceptable. It makes no sense.

We are urging the government to increase pressure on rail companies, including the implementation and enforcement of rail performance standards. We need a viable strategy for transporting grain by rail.

Farmers should not have to struggle with increasing prices. We need to take immediate action to find a solution and determine the root of the problem. Are oil shipments a factor? Why is there such a bottleneck? We need to find answers. Are the ports also playing a role in this issue?

The government has asked the railway companies to come up with solutions to deal with the backlog, but it does not plan on imposing penalties. Is the government going to just stand by and watch?

The Alberta Federation of Agriculture believes that railway companies prefer to do business with oil companies, not producers and farmers. CN responds that no oil is transported in the 5,500 cars reserved for grain each week. Everyone is passing the buck.

The NDP is urging the government to increase pressure on rail companies, including the implementation and enforcement of rail performance standards; ensure that vessel and export information is accessible to producers; ensure that grain producers have fair access to rail infrastructure in order to move their product; and develop a strategy for future rail service.

It is time to do something about this. The government could have prevented this from happening. Everyone has a role to play. It is not black and white. Tonight's debate is interesting and gives us an opportunity to learn things. We are sharing good ideas. I hope that we can soon resolve this situation, which is frustrating and painful for the farmers. They have worked so hard this year.

[Grain Transport, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on the urgent rail delay situation tonight, but I wish we were not here. I wish that we did not find ourselves here tonight with this problem of rail transport and all the delays. It is mind-blowing.

These lengthy delays and backlogs in rail transport have prevented thousands of landlocked western grain producers from getting their product to the market. Western farmers are coming out of a bumper crop without being able to move their product to the market. We need our railroad companies to be able to respond quickly to a bumper crop immediately after harvest. This will avoid the kinds of delays that we are seeing right now.

I have spoken to some farmers about the crisis and I am hearing that there are lot of things that are going wrong.

One, some farmers are telling me that grain shipments are not a high priority to rail companies, as oil, potash, and coal are. This is unacceptable. Rail companies cannot pick and choose their cargo. They are putting thousands of livelihoods at risk.

A farmer told me that his grain is not moving, but his neighbour's is. He explained that his neighbour had contracted a lower price with the rail company than he had, and therefore he was given a priority. If so, this is unacceptable as well.

Another farmer from Saskatchewan, Glenn Tait, talked about how the elevator companies are charging double the demurrage fees, and I quote:

The elevator companies will recoup demurrage charges from farmers by deducting this cost from grain prices.

When the Canadian Wheat Board looked after logistical matters, freight costs from the prairies to the western ports were in the range of $50 per tonne. Today, we are seeing costs of $100 per tonne or more deducted.

The total losses from demurrage alone so far are in the millions of dollars, money that will never be spent by prairie farmers or anywhere within the Canadian economy.

Western grain farmers are incredibly frustrated. They have done their part and have worked very hard to produce a bumper crop. Now they need the government to hold up its end of the bargain and get the railways moving.

We are in an emergency debate here tonight. All of this is because the government did not do its homework two years ago after it abolished the wheat board. It did not take the time to consider or develop a plan for transportation.

Back in 2011, the NDP warned the Conservatives that getting rid of the wheat board would mean putting an end to stability. For generations, farmers relied on the wheat board—

[Employment, February 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, two organizations in my riding, Carrefour jeunesse emploi and the Community Futures Development Corporation, are facing lengthy processing times for their applications to the skills link program.

It seems to be a common issue across Quebec. Projects could be in jeopardy, and our youth will suffer the consequences.

Will the Minister of Employment clean up his department so that young people in Berthier—Maskinongé and elsewhere can access the labour market?

[The Environment, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, people are concerned that the current government is not doing enough to protect our pollinators and that we need a rigorous series of risk-based assessments and scientific study, not just gambling with the livelihoods of farmers. Other jurisdictions are taking clear and decisive action to protect bee populations.

Why are the Conservatives risking the livelihoods of farmers, and why are they not taking this issue seriously?