Agriculture committee  I wanted to make a point of clarification. You asked what the situation with the buyout for pricing was. Our marketing board went back to the minister. I believe they dropped the price and made another offer of $2.62 per pound of the basic production quota. We're not exactly sure, as farmers and marketing board and TFIC, exactly what the position is.

Agriculture committee  It was a combination. In P.E.I. there was a combination of funds between the federal and provincial government. There were exit programs, I believe, in some of the provinces. The most recent exit program was a combination of federal and provincial funds under the APF normal funding.

Agriculture committee  In Ontario and Quebec. The last exit program established an exit that was a combination of moneys in Ontario that worked out to $1.05 federally and I believe 67¢ provincially, so it ended up at $1.72. But the amount of funds was limited. There were 700 bids placed and only 252 were allowed to exit, because the funds ran out.

Agriculture committee  I think at this point in time we have our elected representatives, who are the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board. Their mandate is marketing and production. There are some growers, as I stated in the question, who think they can still grow if there is a restructuring of the tobacco scenario.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's nice to be here this morning to address the situation. We represent tobacco farmers. Our name is Tobacco Farmers in Crisis. We've been lobbying for an exit program for tobacco farmers to exit tobacco production, and that means that if we can, we would like to put a program in place that allows the tobacco quota system to be exited totally--100%.

Agriculture committee  From the point of view of Tobacco Farmers in Crisis, as Fred has said, it might as well be a mirror. Our proposal puts forward that there be an exit of tobacco farmers. As the board has stated, the first and the last farmer should know what that exit program is. It's up to someone else to decide how long that's going to take.

Agriculture committee  Tobacco is, as some people say, a difficult subject. We are agriculture, there's no doubt about it, but tobacco hasn't been treated the same as the rest. Government policies have affected our marketplace. We need a decision made to help us exit tobacco farming, because our equity is destroyed.

Agriculture committee  The U.S. model was based on recovery of the earning power of your quota. That was what the basis was, along with the economic power of the quota itself. In Australia, the producers actually were a cooperative. The remaining growers were a cooperative actually processing the tobacco for the manufacturers, and they have been recompensed based on their shares in the cooperative.

Agriculture committee  In our tobacco advisory committee negotiations we had a two-price system. Domestic tobacco for consumption in Canada was higher priced, and we had an export price for shipping tobacco to other countries. Tobacco health policy has been a high-priced product for the Canadian consumer.

Agriculture committee  We represent about 500 farm families. We represent P.E.I., Quebec, and Ontario producers who voluntarily joined. You addressed the size of the farms. We have farms from 50 acres to 150 acres, on average. It's not like out west, where you're growing sections. It's very hard to pay your bills on 50 to 150 acres.

Agriculture committee  That's exactly our problem. It's happening right now. There is no requirement right now for a Canadian content, a percentage in the cigarette. Under the tobacco advisory committee, for a number of years there was a working relationship between the companies and the farmers and the government.

Agriculture committee  Right now there has been a moratorium placed on tobacco quota sales by our board. It's been put in place to protect those who are most vulnerable, and it's been in effect since May. There's no out-year to plan for with our tobacco companies. We're in a situation now where there's got to be time for whatever the decision is—and we need to know that decision soon for planning purposes.

Agriculture committee  Why are Canadian tobacco farmers in crisis? Tobacco farmers are victims of conflicting government policies on tobacco and a gap in tobacco control policy has put them into debt and economic devastation. Since 2002, tobacco farmers and their families have been in a state of turmoil, brought on by dramatically declining crop sizes, costly mandatory infrastructure investments, rising contraband and an increase in cheaper imported tobacco.