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Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie (Joliette, BQ)

Jun/16/22 9:19:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO, war and climate change are the main causes of global food insecurity. For example, last summer, droughts in western Canada, the United States and Russia, as well as flooding in Germany, resulted in disastrous harvests. It was hoped that this year, stocks could be replenished. Now, with the war in Ukraine, that will not be possible. What does my colleague think about that?

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Context: House Hansard - 90 - Jun/16/22

Ms. Elizabeth May

Jun/16/22 10:19:36 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I often find that my friend from Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa is more aware of what happens on the land in the place where he is rooted than on that of other members. We cannot separate them. The global warming crisis, the climate emergency, drives the water crisis. They are inextricably linked. We have to set a date and start moving away from fossil fuels. It will be hard. It was hard for Quebec to shut down the asbestos industry, but if we do not plan to shut down the fossil fuel industry in the near term, we will not be able to protect our water, we will not be able to preserve the possibility that farmers can plant crops that have a chance of surviving and we will create mega-droughts.

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Context: House Hansard - 90 - Jun/16/22

Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Jun/16/22 10:24:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to continue along the same lines. The food crisis is directly linked to the climate crisis. It began before the COVID-19 pandemic, although that amplified it. It also began before the war. As a country, it is imperative that we set meaningful targets and find ways to begin a real energy transition. That means Canada has to stop approving projects like Bay du Nord, which made absolutely no sense. Let us think of the droughts in western Canada last year, or the flooding and the fires they had in British Columbia. These were all major disasters. Things do not appear to be as bad this year, but we certainly have had excess water in Quebec. We have had far too much rainfall, an abnormal amount, I would say. Farmers cannot even dry their hay, because sooner or later a cloud comes along and it rains for 15 minutes. That is enough to spoil the whole process. The climate is unstable. A while ago, we had very high winds. The Lanaudière farmers' union actually told me it is asking the Government of Quebec for a support program for maple syrup plantations. The damage was extremely severe, and there is concern for the safety of the landowners, who will be cleaning up all those precariously fallen trees themselves. Maple syrup plantations take more than just a couple of years to turn a profit. It is more like 20, 30 or 40 years. That is the reality. It has begun. The longer we wait to take real action, the worse it will get. Food insecurity is happening here because of COVID‑19, the housing crisis, and rising interest rates, with inflation playing a role. People who paid too much for their homes are up to their eyeballs in debt. Some unpleasant stories will play out in the months to come. A crisis response team was put together in my riding in anticipation of the housing crisis this coming July 1, because housing is too expensive. When people pay a greater portion of their income for housing, where else can they cut spending but on groceries? People eat noodles more often, and they eat less. I hear people talk about this every week. Just this morning, someone told me that they receive old age security and that this government is stubbornly refusing to increase it. I will digress here because I talk about this subject every chance I get. This creates food insecurity. We need to be vigilant. I want to appeal to all members to recognize the importance of maintaining our social safety net. That is why the Bloc Québécois rises so often to protect our jurisdictions. People can say what they want, but the social safety net in Quebec is more effective than elsewhere. This means that we need our health transfers as well as an increase in old age security and the guaranteed income supplement. We have proposed easy solutions. We must ensure that we redistribute wealth equitably. Let us now talk about the global food crisis and the war in Ukraine. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, 44 countries will need aid this year, and 53 countries will face food insecurity in one form or another. Those are big numbers. This appalling war is being carried out in such a way as to create food insecurity. It becomes clearer the more we analyze it. We are working on this issue at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, which received Ukrainian elected officials. I have to confess that I found this extremely difficult. I would like to tip my hat to these people, who are standing guard and are showing exemplary courage. In this war, Russia is targeting infrastructure and deliberately blocking ports. The Ukrainians are unable to export last year's crops. This year's crops are growing, but there is nowhere to store them. It is a serious problem. We absolutely need to create a safe corridor to ensure the export of grain out of Ukraine, not just for us, but for the entire world. We have to think about food insecurity. As long as there is hunger, there will be no peace. There have already been several coups in African countries recently. This will create a lot of political instability. I hope I am wrong, but the implications of the war in Ukraine are much greater than currently projected. At some point, someone is going to have to make a move. Exporting this grain is of capital importance. I think that Canada is capable of helping with respect to temporary storage infrastructure, obviously located outside the combat zones so that it too is not targeted. To save the crops, they need to be moved. Canada can also increase its contribution to the UN World Food Programme, as was mentioned earlier. It is important. The Oxfam representatives who testified at committee told us that Canada's international food aid contribution right now is half of what it was a few years ago. That is due to inflation, and we need to adjust it. We can afford to do that, and we have no right to refuse. That is something meaningful we can do. We need to provide constructive international aid. A few weeks ago, I was in Ghana. I visited the main FAO offices for Africa, which are located in Accra. People were telling me that only 8% of international aid goes to improving agriculture because most international aid is geared to generate specific demands. A somewhat exaggerated example is that a tractor may be provided, but there is a requirement that the parts be purchased from the supplier. We need to invest in the long term, in infrastructure, while respecting local cultures. We could develop food autonomy. I am sure it will come as no surprise when I say I am going to talk about supply management again. It is another option, something we could do that works well here. It needs to be protected, and we must stop selling it out bit by bit in the international agreements we sign. We should export the model. African countries are being flooded with cheap food surpluses from developed countries, hindering the development of local production. We should organize local farmers. In many African countries, women do the farming, but they have no bargaining power or market organization. This kind of thing costs nothing. We have the know-how, so I think we have a duty to go there. I now want to talk about what needs to be done in this country. We must ensure that we are self-sufficient when it comes to food. I was happy to hear a lot of speeches about how we need to make life easier for our farmers. Charity begins at home. We need to give to others, but we must first ensure that we are protected. We must protect supply management. We must not implement unnecessary restrictions, such as labelling trans fats on ground beef. It makes absolutely no sense. Ground beef is a whole food; people know what they are buying. Taxing pollution is a good thing, but there is no point taxing grain drying, because there is no alternative and it only ends up increasing the cost of food. We need to stay focused and be smart about what we are doing. We need to support our agricultural producers' environmental innovations. When they do something to protect the environment, that is worth money. We pay them money, we ensure that the money is at their disposal for the next innovation. We need to trust our farmers. They will not disappoint us. We need to listen to our people. This morning I shared with the minister a letter from the UPA dated May 18, asking for emergency support because of the skyrocketing increase in input production costs. Costs have gone up by 50% compared to the consumer price index, which is around 5%. Farmers need meaningful help. Farm debt is extremely high. These farmers are currently burning through all of their cash. In a few months, we are going to start seeing businesses close down and disappear. Is that what we want? Obviously the answer is no, so we need to do something about it.

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