November 23, 1984 (33rd Parliament, 1st Session)

Mr. Boudria:

Mr. Speaker, I found the comments of the last Member rather interesting. On one hand, he is in favour of
Supply
de-regulation. On the other hand, he extols the virtues of supply management. He wants a red meat stabilization program, but he says the federal government should not impose anything on the provinces. He says the farmer should not go out of business, yet he says that red meat producers should not exist in my riding, only in his riding. I find that difficult to accept.
I also find it difficult to accept the Member's statement that the previous Government did not devote the required attention to agriculture. In the announcements of the Minister of Finance (Mr. Wilson) and the President of the Treasury Board (Mr. de Cotret), dairy programs are being cut by $6.2 million, departmental operations are being cut by $9.4 million, and Canagrex is being cut by $6.6 million. That would have been a very useful tool for the marketing of our agricultural products. The Government is deferring $4.9 million in the testing laboratory and research facility to be built in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, and Victoriaville. All this is from a government which pretends it is going to pay more attention to agriculture. How can it direct more attention to agriculture when it does not want to invest the funds required?
In the same document, we see that $32.3 million will be cut in agricultural services. The document states that fees are currently charged for services such as food inspection, agricultural input quality assurance and so forth and that the level of these will be increased. I find it very difficult to accept that this Government would make cuts in agriculture while at the same time saying that it is interested in agriculture. Where I come from, you put your money where your mouth is.