Agriculture committee  We need to put in place support and incentives for farmers to be able to enter agriculture and do organic farming. This is very important. Where I live on Prince Edward Island, I'm surrounded by organic farms. They're small organic farms, mostly producing soybeans. People around there are gardening organically as well.

Agriculture committee  Oh. It would be on the same wavelength.

Agriculture committee  As the P.E.I. Health Coalition, we're a coalition of many groups, including community, union, and health organizations. For instance, we are part of the Canadian Health Coalition.

Agriculture committee  At the local level we are, with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and CUPE, the provincial union of workers, the federation of labour, and the nurses' union.

Agriculture committee  We don't have a direct affiliation with them in P.E.I., because it is a small group on the island, but maybe we'll look into having more of an affiliation with them.

Agriculture committee  There are organizations of doctors and environmental doctors who are really questioning all the unknowns of all genetically engineered food, and that includes fish. For instance, that growth hormone that is used in salmon, the IGF-1 hormone, could cause cancers. There's a possibility of that.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the P.E.I. Health Coalition, we understand the relationship between food and health. We believe that the first strategic outcome of the Growing Forward agricultural policy framework should be to make the provision of healthy food for the country’s population the top priority.