44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 5, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie is in no position to lecture anyone about going down on bended knee and demanding things from the government, but that is another debate.
However, the question remains. Where are the profits going? They are certainly not going to our farmers, who are on the verge of bankruptcy. Things are really tough right now. My region has had a drought, and that is on top of rising input and fuel costs. The challenges are enormous. It is important to strengthen local distribution channels and ensure direct access to farmers. The growing number of intermediaries means that, if everyone takes a share, consumers end up paying more.
Right now consumers have very little direct access to farmers. The major players who control the distribution market are taking so much money that processors are no longer making any money and consumers are paying twice as much.
Local distribution channels must be strengthened. We need to invest in our regions and create public markets and permanent structures that will encourage consumers to visit. That way, we can improve our agricultural industry and our economy.
191 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, there are no abattoirs in Abitibi—Témiscamingue. It is a serious problem for our agriculture. Our farmers have to get their beef slaughtered more than 500 kilometres away. How is it that are we able to get programs to compensate the transportation of livestock, but we cannot get programs that should be fully funded by the governments? Obviously, it is hard to make abattoirs profitable. Having programs, however, would help us create economic diversity.
There is a cost to the quality of meat, the transportation, the environment and others. We need to invest in regional abattoirs.
101 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I take offence to that, because I am telling the truth.
What the member is referring to is actually only on food. We can ask the farmers how their bills have gone up with the carbon tax. We can ask how much inputs have gone up. We can ask how much packaging has gone up for products. We can ask retailers why packaging has gone up. It is because the carbon tax is paid on fuel that delivers every single thing along the supply chain, and when the fuel prices go up, everything along the supply chain goes up. Unless we axe the tax, we are not going to see a reprieve. We need to axe the carbon tax and give families back more money in their pockets, not some one-time rebate that was masked as a grocery rebate when it is actually an HST rebate.
149 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/5/23 2:44:09 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives like to cherry-pick the facts they want to cling to, even when their facts are not facts.
Something they never talk about is the fact that climate change is also increasing the cost of groceries. This year saw the worst harvests in almost every region of Quebec and Canada. More than anyone, our farmers across the country know how important it is to keep putting a price on pollution and fighting climate change.
If the Conservatives really want to help farmers and Canadians, they should support our efforts to fight climate change.
97 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/5/23 3:02:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the agri-food sector has endured more extreme weather events, particularly in the province of the member, such as increasingly severe and frequent storms, soil erosion, erratic and unpredicted rainfall, and higher-than-ever temperatures, including here in Ottawa in the last three days. That all results from climate change.
As farmers always do, they have persevered. They have developed and implemented more environmentally friendly on-farm practices and have reduced their emissions. The government is supporting them every step of the way through that process, and we will make sure that we continue to be there for farmers and consumers when it comes to lowering food prices.
110 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
