Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette:

Honourable senators, I rise to speak on behalf of all Canadians, not just those living in Western Canada. I live in Quebec and, like many consumers, I eat wheat-based products every day, although I do not eat barley-based products as often. However, it must be pointed out that wheat is an essential food and that it is part of the diet of all Canadians, no matter the province they live in.

Bread, pasta, pastries — although not too often — and cereal are part of my daily diet. Cereals fill a large section in supermarkets. Just like everyone here, I sometimes have crepes. I make very good ones. My point is that when we talk about the Canadian Wheat Board, we should also talk about the end products, what the grain is used for and where the products are found.

I would even like to talk about the fact that Canadian students — who eat as much Kraft dinner today as they did a few years ago because it is easy on their budget — are affected by decisions that we believe only concern producers.

I have some statistics about agri-food production in Canada. We should know that it represents eight per cent of gross domestic product. We are talking about very significant amounts. We should also know what action has been taken since the government came to power and what direction we are going in with respect to governance as it applies to basic commodities. We are talking about natural resources and, in this case, renewable resources.

Over the past 10 years, agri-food products in Canada have increased by 50 per cent. For example, I am thinking of the Catelli pasta plant that closed in Montreal. Today, each of you likely has occasion to buy pasta that, in general, is imported from Italy but is made with durum wheat from Western Canada. We cannot say that we really did some brainstorming and created value-added jobs based on commodities that we produce in Canada, which travel thousands of kilometres round trip to finally return to us in a different form. It is rather extraordinary that, as a government, we have not succeeded in creating a policy that would allow for the processing of our raw materials.

Over the past few years, Canada has dropped from being the third-largest exporter of manufactured food to the seventh-largest, and it has now been surpassed by Brazil, China and Argentina. In short, we have fallen four places and we have been going in the wrong direction since 2005; we are regressing.

I would now like to talk about the world population forecasts, and I would like to quote from a study that was conducted in co-operation with the federal government but that was paid for by various stakeholders across the country, including the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. This study was published in February 2011, and the information can be found on the Internet site on which the report is posted. The report states that the global population is expected to reach 9 billion in 2050 and, as a result, global food demand is expected to rise by 70 per cent. Producers who see the direction that the market is taking have two things to think about: how they can make a profit from raw materials and how they can make a profit from finished products.

There is some bad news, though: research and development in this area has fallen by 8 per cent over the past 10 years. When I refer to agri-food, I am referring to pasta, cereals, pastry and all products that use flour as a raw material. Canada's situation does not even allow us to compete with any of the other G7 or G8 countries because we now rank 19th in the world.

Canada is made up of some very vast spaces. This country has an industry that is significant but it does not necessarily make good decisions. There is little research and little processing, and we export less than before. I do not think this is the story we are getting. In the meantime, it seems as though the Minister of Agriculture should have focused on actions that would have allowed for processing.

Since 2008, the minister has been fighting to bring in new legislation, but he forgot that 12.5 per cent of Canadian workers work in the agri-food sector. There are many jobs related to this sector and there could be more.

I would like to share some rather sad stories. During question period we heard about salt and sugar, and that is something I would like to talk about as well. These two food products are dominated by multinational companies that have virtually no competition.

When these megacorporations expand their operations across the globe, we know what happens. For example, we see it in the oil industry. We know that when there are few players, the multinational corporations — and certainly not consumers — benefit the most.

Senators must know that flour, which is used in manufacturing all of these foods, is consumed by the rich and the poor alike. It is part of the diets of low-income individuals because it has nutritional value in terms of proteins.

Instead of devoting his energy to the Canadian Wheat Board issue, I would like the Minister of Agriculture to focus on new industries, the 50 per cent more products Canada is importing.

Earlier, during question period, I spoke of the many visits by corporations that contacted the government. I made a list. There are some key players including the Grain Growers of Canada and a multinational called Viterra, as well as Cargill, which is known in the industry.

When I say 100 meetings with the government, I am talking about two direct visits to the Prime Minister's Office and more than 50 to the office of the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Ritz. One of the Minister of Transport's political advisors was visited as well. The same goes for the political advisors to the Prime Minister, Minister Peter Van Loan and Minister Stockwell Day.

Our current negotiators with the European Union were visited by representatives of the Grain Growers of Canada; Minister of State Rob Merrifield was also visited. Minister of State Ted Menzies was visited a number of times by the Grain Growers of Canada, Cargill and Viterra.

Other members of Parliament were also visited: David Anderson, Garry Breitkreuz, Rob Anders, Kelly Block, my friend Randy Hoback, Larry Miller, and Léon Benoit.

I do not have the staff to do extensive research, but when I see the number of visits, I wonder if we were provided with as much information on this as the government. To my great surprise, not a single member of the Grain Growers of Canada ever came knocking on my door. I did not see any representatives of Cargill either, nor did I see anyone from Viterra.

They had a specific target: the government, a government that is so transparent that it passes on the information to the rest of us. When the information comes out, we would like it to be the same across the board, for all the opposition parties to receive the same number of visits, and for all our assistants to be contacted in the same way.

We did not receive the same information. The government might regret the fact that we are not major supporters, but that is probably because we were not as well informed. I look at how this situation evolved, the ruling by a Federal Court judge and the decision by the Canadian Wheat Board to file an injunction to prevent the adverse effects of the bill.

Let us not forget one thing: we are talking about a sector of strategic importance to Canada's future. We are talking about a sector over which we want to maintain economic control.

I would like to remind honourable senators what a poor farmer trying to export looks like. As we speak, Senator Ringuette is in Lebanon, trying to help a potato farmer. After months and months of imprisonment in a country that is not even the one the potatoes were exported to and where the charges — which we think are absurd — were laid, do all the wheat farmers now have to pack their bags too and travel all over the world to sell their wheat?

That seems a little complicated to me. I believe that since we are competing with Russia and other major international exporters, including the Europeans, who are heavily subsidized, it is in our best interest to maintain an organization that, for all practical purposes, serves the interests of the group. Since I am from Quebec, I can tell you about the UPA, the farmers' union. On the one hand, this government says it will maintain supply management — for poultry, eggs and milk — and on the other hand, it wants to liberalize the wheat industry.

If we take a closer look at the issue and focus on the rationale for all this, I do not think we can have any faith in the government's policy. I repeat: I did not see any market studies that prove that the farmers in question will fare any better. More importantly, I did not see the studies conducted by the government to show how these products can have any added value once the multinationals get their hands on the commodity.

Based on my review of the file, I conclude that this policy will be very bad for Canadian consumers. We hope the government will come to its senses, forget about all the lobbying and reverse its decision, in the interest of Canadians and Western farmers.

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