The combination of pandemic and climate change is forcing us to urgently review entire sections of our legislation, particularly in terms of energy, the environment and various supplies. Furthermore, some of our policies which meet the demands of the times must be preserved and consolidated. Supply management falls into this category. It constitutes non-negotiable Canadian capital.
Well before the pandemic, this policy, which benefits all regions of the country, had to be defended. But COVID-19 taught us that supply chains are fragile. And recently, indeed, they were. India ended its rice exports and Russia disrupted global grain delivery.
We must protect ourselves against these unpredictable disruptions. We must also protect ourselves from American and European competition in the agricultural field, competition made impossible by generous subsidy policies which place them in a separate category. Unless we enter into this game and subsidize our production at a high level — which is not an option considered — it is better to protect the supply management policy, a fair and effective policy.
This supply management policy gives us a certain lead and major guarantees. Indeed, for more than half a century, the production of milk, eggs and poultry and the markets in this field have been protected in our country according to a system which involves the federal government and those of the provinces, an effective system which has proven itself.
Bill C-282, which I am sponsoring in the Senate, aims to perpetuate this policy. Essentially, it prohibits touching this policy in possible international trade negotiations. Clearly, the bill guarantees that supply management is excluded from any future negotiations. The Minister of International Trade is expressly required to strictly apply this policy. Consequently, after the adoption of the law, this policy will be fully and sustainably protected; a quality supply will be guaranteed to Canadian consumers and a fair price assured to the country’s agricultural producers for their work and their products.
In addition to these assurances of quality supplies and fair remuneration for agricultural producers, other reasons led me to defend Bill C-282 in the Senate.
No less than 350,000 jobs in the country, including 115,000 in Quebec, depend on this supply management policy which, moreover, adds $30 billion to the national GDP and generates $7 billion in tax revenue. This economic dimension alone would justify maintaining such a fruitful policy for Canadian workers and farmers.
But the resulting benefits are also social and territorial. Indeed, this policy enriches our rural regions with a volume of activities which contributes to their maintenance not only as viable commercial, social and cultural spaces, but also as attractive and lively human spaces. In addition, it provides agricultural producers with a stable income. It also guarantees them a forecasting capacity and a good level of investment at a time when digital technology and artificial intelligence are invading their fields of activity. Finally, major effects, it shortens the commercial circuits of food products and, as a result, considerably reduces CO emissions.2 which cause global warming.
These are many reasons to protect our supply management policy. Eighty percent of MPs in the House of Commons supported the bill, including the four leaders of the political parties. I am hopeful that the Senate will confirm this choice and protect our supply management policy from foreign governments and multinationals. So this Canadian capital will truly be non-negotiable.