These comments are direct quotations from the Hansard
documents.
Agricultural Policy Framework
Mr. David Anderson
(Cypress Hills—Grasslands, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, it has
taken the agriculture minister two years to come up with a risk management
program which so far is a complete disaster for producers. Canadians
farmers were hopeful they would finally have long term stability in their
safety net programs.
Could the Minister of Agriculture explain why he waited until the
implementation date to hire private consultants to then assess the already
beleaguered APF program? Just how incompetent is the minister and his
department?
[Translation]
Mr. Claude Duplain (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of
Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, just recently the
Canadian Federation of Agriculture came up with examples. The Minister of
Agriculture and Agri-Food, showing that he has an open mind, wanted to
demonstrate again the benefits of the new agricultural policy framework
and agreed to prove, with this private firm, that the APF is a very good
program.
[English]
Mr. David Anderson (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, Canadian Alliance):
Mr. Speaker, those presentations were made back in February. This
agriculture situation makes absolutely no sense. It has taken a $5 billion
department two years to create a program that now needs to be assessed by
a private consultant. If this is not incompetence, then this abysmal
failure must have been by design.
Why has the government left farmers standing alone just as they are going
back into their fields? What is the real agenda here?
[Translation]
Mr. Claude Duplain (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of
Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, it has not been an
abysmal failure. As the member just pointed out, we have spent two years
developing a new policy framework. Everyone was consulted, including the
federation. The federation recently came up with new examples to show that
the APF is not good. Our response is that their numbers are wrong. The
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, once again, has agreed to examine
them with a private consultant to prove to the federation that the APF is
indeed a good program.
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