AGRI Committee Report

CONCLUSION

No government support, regardless of the country concerned, can guarantee that all farmers will be able to remain on their farms. In agriculture as in other sectors, there is a normal and continual transition because nothing is permanent except change. However, once a comprehensive vision recognized and accepted by all participants has been completed, the government’s role is to stay the course. The strength of European and American agricultural policies is precisely based on the fact that, during a given period of a few years, all participants in the sector are focused on the expectations they can have of the government. In Canada, that stability has too long been lacking.

After adopting an agricultural policy vision, the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture have now taken on the task of better centering that vision with the aid of the various stakeholders in the agriculture and agri-food sector. The complex and diverse nature of agriculture does not facilitate development of a comprehensive policy. The members of the Standing Committee believe that the recommendations made in this report provide excellent guidelines for the architects of agricultural policies, who have every interest in using them to build an architecture for agriculture in the 21st century based on Canadian farmers and which will enable them to prosper in a dynamic and sustainable sector. In that context:

RECOMMENDATION 33

In response to the stakeholder feedback provided during the cross‑country hearings, the Committee urges the federal government to formally consider the nation’s ability to produce safe and affordable agricultural products to be an issue of national security. The Committee further recommends that, to achieve this national security objective, the federal government should aggressively pursue a course that ensures an appropriate monetary return to primary producers.