Agriculture committee  Canada is at a junction, right? A few years ago, agriculture was seen as a money sink, where most of the time the government was subsidizing farmers. Then, three or four years ago, there was the Dominic Barton report, which said that agriculture and agri-food are a significant pl

Agriculture committee  I would go back to the same public servants who mentioned that and ask them whether, when they go to their office, they charge their personal phone on the electricity from the government's office. Should they be charged separately on that? Maybe that is something we should look a

Agriculture committee  I think we need to develop the technology as fast as we can. We also have a Prime Minister who says he has a great relationship with the new President, so I'm sure we're not looking at taxes on our products or any of those negative impacts. Let's work on that. Let's put some inc

Agriculture committee  That's a very good question. Since there are no viable alternative technologies [Technical difficulty—Editor], the research has to continue. Halting that progress would be a mistake, in my view. Yes, I think it's important to continue investing in the current technology, as resea

Agriculture committee  It's a tough balance to strike. Right now, it would be a bad idea to halt either current investments or research progress.

Agriculture committee  Yes. When the act first came into being, did your organization or farmers in general have any reaction when you didn't see propane and natural gas listed under the same “qualifying farm fuel” definition?

Agriculture committee  We didn't. It was not a topic that was raised directly by us. Other farm groups had been involved, and we got involved when there was a discussion about research and innovation, where they stand and where we are on that, so we could provide you, as an example, a better understand

Agriculture committee  I would say that there are companies in place that are trying to look at alternatives. I had communication with one of them on Friday, as an example, that is looking at low-temperature pyrolysis. Do not ask me the details of it. I failed science in high school. There are differe

Agriculture committee  No, it means the opposite. I think that it will take a little longer to implement some of these technologies. Actually, it depends. If we're talking about the development of these technologies in the test phase [Technical difficulty—Editor]. However, to get them to a level where

Agriculture committee  As Ms. Bessette said earlier, some of the investments in the budget are partly a step in the right direction. However, I think more investment is needed, as is greater co-operation between government and the sector. In my brief, you will notice I talk about how Agriculture and A

Agriculture committee  Were you going to say “paltry”? That's one of the words used—

Agriculture committee  If farmers ever figure out how to grow money, you and I probably won't be around to see it, Mr. Perron. For the time being, though, we can agree that money does not grow on trees, so it has to come from somewhere. That said, Canada's investment has to match its ambition. The gov

Agriculture committee  Some pilot projects have already been initiated. Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec all have pilot projects under way. Radio-Canada actually did a great story on the subject recently. It will take more than a pilot project or two to expand these kinds initiatives across the sector. It

Agriculture committee  There is a lot of concern in the farming community, Mr. Epp. You have heard it quite a bit. We need the exemption to be there. That's what the farming community wants and has asked for.

Agriculture committee  Ms. Bessette, you're saying that we should stop drying grain at this point until new technologies are in place. I think that we should be careful about that. We shouldn't prevent the purchase of this equipment [Technical difficulty—Editor]. We must keep producing grain. The gover