Agriculture committee  The subsidy is that.

Agriculture committee  What is the figure?

Agriculture committee  They will be jobs at what cost?

Agriculture committee  Yes, if you're going to pay $1 million to $3 million a job. Do the math. In Manitoba, an ethanol plant employing.... It was in my presentation. The new Husky plant at Minnedosa, for example, provided 11 jobs in addition to what was there before, so those costs in terms of subsidies come at $3.3 million per job per year.

Agriculture committee  I was asked the question and I want to clarify it, because I made it in my presentation. On the cost of jobs, the Manitoba government's information indicates an 80-million-litre ethanol plant will employ 30 to 35 people, while a 160-million-litre ethanol plant may employ 40 to 50 people.

Agriculture committee  I want to respond to that, if I could.

Agriculture committee  Why oppose this? Various countries have different situations. The U.S. is a big producer of corn, and a lot of the organizations and associations use ethanol as a way to dispose of some of that corn. That's how it was first thought of. Canada, east of the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border, is a net importer of corn—about 50 million to 100 million bushels of corn a year.

Agriculture committee  Yes. She made some statements about my having made some statements. I want to clarify what I said in my presentation. Here's what I said. Vaclav Smil, from the University of Manitoba, described the problem with the wheat ethanol, such as low wheat yields, high water requirements, and growing wheat in the prairies, much of which is a semi-desert.

Agriculture committee  No, I'm trying to explain that. You made some comments about being the farmer here and being proud of these farmers. Well, I really am too, you know.

Agriculture committee  Well, whatever you do.... Anyway, why would we produce low-valued grain to put into ethanol and import the—

Agriculture committee  No. I was quoting somebody. I was quoting Dr. Vaclav Smil, and he said that you don't set up ethanol plants in a semi-desert, which is much of the prairies.

Agriculture committee  I'd like to make a comment on that.

Agriculture committee  The reality is that the price of a bushel of canola is $13 today, the price of a bushel of wheat is $10, and you're not going to make biofuels out of those kinds of fuels. A bushel of canola has about 10 litres, and Mr. Chorney will back me up on that, so the direct cost is a $1.30 a litre before you even start processing it.

Agriculture committee  My wife and I farm in the Swan River area of Manitoba.

Agriculture committee  Okay.