Madam Speaker, on behalf of the farmers in my riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, I would like to thank the hon. member for Montcalm for putting forward this motion today.
There is no doubt that for those farmers who have been affected by the BSE border crisis, there is a crisis. It is only by continually bringing forward motions like this one to draw attention to the plight of Canadian farmers can we even hope for any action.
On Saturday, November 20 I held an information meeting for farmers at the Cobden agricultural hall. It was the second such meeting to be held in Cobden. The first was held in July 2003 and was the first such meeting of any in Ontario.
That first meeting was the largest meeting of farmers in Renfrew County's history. As the second largest cow calf producing county in Ontario, farmers in my riding have been particularly hard hit by the border crisis created by a single case of BSE.
I thank Mr. Jim Wheeler, assistant deputy minister of agriculture for the Province of Ontario, and Mr. John Ross, assistant director of the red meat section for the federal agriculture department, for taking the time to come out to the meeting in Cobden on that Saturday morning.
Both officials updated farmers on the latest assistance programs. They provided any news available as to when the farmers might see some relief to the current farm crisis.
I also thank provincial MLA John Yakabuski who participated in the information meeting, and Wilson Rae of the Renfrew County Cattlemen's Association.
I also would like to give a big thanks to the Whitewater Region Ministerial Association for hosting a free beef barbecue after our meeting. Together with the Cobden Civitan Club, led by President Keith Sparling, the members of the ministerial association cooked up a creative way of showing support for our farmers in their time of need.
Once again our community came out for a well-attended show of support. Special thanks are extended to all the people who took the time to come out and support our farmers.
I want to be clear that the meeting I held in November was advertised and conducted as an information meeting. Unlike the last time when the federal officials were gratefully invited to participate in our farmer information meeting, no questions asked, this time a staff member of the Minister of Agriculture phoned my office to screen the request for a federal bureaucrat to attend the November 20 meeting. In the end, Mr. Ross was permitted to come. However, I have to ask, why the third degree?
One cannot help but think that the call from the minister's office was prompted by fear on the part of the federal government. The fact is that regardless of the bravado shown in question period, whenever the federal Minister of Agriculture is asked a question about the BSE crisis, he knows the assistance programs are not working. It would seem that the fear of facing farmers outweighs the need to provide timely information to them.
When this crisis first hit, there were immediate suggestions for individual animal testing and from people like beef farmer Howard Boland, who lives out near Eganville, for the need to increase Canadian slaughter capacity.
Unfortunately for our beef farmers, those are longer term solutions.
The government has always been wedded to the idea of a short term fix and prays that the problem will solve itself. In the meantime, the provincial government has moved to stop barnyard kills. Therefore, the little bit of relief farmers had in being able to feed themselves has gone too.
That approach is not working and the government knows it. This approach reminds me of the way government operates with the equipment crisis in Canada's armed forces. Rather than bite the bullet and buy the necessary modern equipment to have a fully functioning, combat capable Canadian military, the government squanders millions, if not billions, of dollars buying second-hand castoffs from other countries, or spends millions of dollars trying to repair 50-year-old aircraft.
The so-called assistance programs are no more than a band-aid approach to an industry that needs a long term solution, not a short term political fix. Government aid programs are a cruel joke on our farmers by a Liberal government that is happy to have cheap food at the farmers' expense.
Designed to beat the financial soul out of a lifetime of work on a family farm, that endangered species, program criteria make it very difficult to qualify. If farmers even qualify for any assistance, they are not seeing anything meaningful. Thirty-fours dollars an animal.
A government bureaucrat at our farm meeting told farmers that they did not want to be on the Canadian agricultural income stabilization program, CAIS, because it meant that their current year was worse than their average and being on the program meant that things were getting worse. Once on the program, it would be tougher to re-qualify because year after year the averages declined. The short term fix has become a prescription for bankruptcy.
Interesting points were made at our information meeting such as the fact that part time beef farmers were left out of any programs and that will not change. Forget the fact that farmers have been forced to find off farm employment because prices are so low. They would not be part time farmers if they could make a full time living by being farmers.
While the farmers in my riding listened very carefully and patiently to what was said, they had a message of their own that they wanted me to deliver here in Ottawa: The current programs are not working well, nor is the handling by the government of the BSE situation working very well either.
This is what Trudy Desjardins of Westmeath had to say: “At some point, someone is going to have to take real leadership...until we get rid of cows that are creating the surplus there is no real solution”.
Preston Cull of Douglas, Ontario was more blunt: “We are sick and tired of all these meetings. People in this room have been losing thousands and thousands of dollars...you guys are going to have to quit talking and start doing stuff”.
Early on it was recognized in Renfrew County that we need to get the border open to live cattle. It was also recognized in a resolution at Renfrew County council that we do not build goodwill by calling others names.
I am proud to recognize the leadership in Renfrew County council when former reeve Gordon White, seconded by reeve Jack Wilson of the township of Laurentian Valley made the following motion:
THAT the Warden, in conjunction with Renfrew County staff, send a letter directed to Mr. Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada, regarding the article of Thursday, February 27, 2003, Federal M.P. on Americans: “I HATE THOSE BASTARDS”, as stated by Liberal M.P....on February 26, 2003, M.P. of Mississauga Centre re: This type of comment toward American neighbours is totally irresponsible, despicable and not acceptable in the fostering of ongoing public relations with our trading partners south of the border. A copy of the letter be sent to M.P. for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.
It is my privilege to publicly acknowledge the following mayors and reeves who were on Renfrew County council and who endorsed this motion: reeve Janice Bush, Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards; reeve Bill Croshaw, Head, Clara and Maria; reeve John Doering, Horton; reeve Arlene Felhaber, Bonnechere Valley; reeve Audrey Green, Renfrew; mayor Russ Havelin, McNab Braeside; reeve Norm Lentz, Brudenell, Lyndoch and Raglin; reeve John Frost, Greater Madawaska; warden of Renfrew County and mayor of Madawaska Valley Bill Schweig; mayor Bob Sweet, Petawawa; reeve Harold Weckworth, North Algona Wilberforce; reeve Gordon White, Whitewater Region; and reeve Jack Wilson, Laurentian Valley.
It is interesting to note that of the three county councillors who voted against the motion condoning the anti-American remarks in the process, two no longer hold office. The Renfrew County councillors who voted for this motion were smart enough to understand the economic importance of American markets.
The U.S. is, in the words of former reeve Gordon White, our lifeline when it comes to selling agricultural and lumber products as well as attracting tourists.
Canadians can only ask, would the border be open today if the Prime Minister had provided some leadership sooner in curbing the rantings of his party against our closest ally and our largest trading partner?
It is time for the government to listen to farmers. As Cobden farmer Bruce Burwell put in a letter he sent to the Prime Minister, “We have wasted enough time at the expense of the farming industry. We are sick and tired of hearing all the B.S.”.
On behalf of all our farmers, what we are doing is not enough. We need to do more. It is time to think outside the box, and we had better do it quickly because time is running out for our beef farmers.