Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 153
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can share my time with colleagues if I have any left.
Welcome to the committee. I'm quite aware that there is a very particular problem in the grains sector. In view of your remarks on CAISP, which does not meet your expectations because of the negative margin—you explained that very clearly—have you approximately determined the amount your industry would need to get through this very difficult period for all growers?
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
If I understand correctly, the situation is not a one-time crisis such as, for example, mad cow, border closings, an extraordinary disease or avian flu in British Columbia. Your problem is that, even if specific action were taken, that wouldn't solve the problem as long as there is a subsidy differential. Consequently, ongoing action has to be taken to enable you to compete more with the Americans. Ad hoc intervention is a bit of a band-aid: it won't solve the problem.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'm not an expert in the field, but my colleague said a moment ago that we exported 80% of our production to foreign markets. Is that figure correct? In any case, it's not very important. But despite that situation, is some grain imported from other countries, even though we are more than self-sufficient and have a surplus?
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
I imagine you've also had meetings with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
What progress has been made in discussions, if there have been any discussions? What are the department's arguments with regard to your specific demands?
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
Despite the fact that it was initially intended for grain growers.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
If I understand your comments on the WTO negotiations, to which we are a party, we often hear that, ultimately, by being ardent defenders of the abolition of subsidies, we may be more Catholic than the Pope, as the saying goes.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
We immediately accept the fact that we have to abolish our subsidies, whereas our competitors, who are at the same tables, say that they're going to do it, but don't really do it. As a result of that, we're not competitive.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'd like to ask a final question, Mr. Chair. As regards our efficiency when we compare ourselves to these various countries which unfortunately subsidize to a much greater degree than we do, as a result of which there is a distortion, I believe we have shown here in Canada and Quebec as a whole that we are sometimes more efficient than other countries.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to welcome you to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Mr. Grégoire. You mentioned that several Marine Communications and Traffic Services centres were closed for a certain length of time. Are you under the impression that the Coast Guard wants to close other centres or that it is in the process of identifying other centres that could eventually be closed? If that is the case, were you involved in that process or at least consulted?
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
What we also hear is what the marine industry raised when it testified before the committee a little earlier. It said it might be a good thing for the Coast Guard to undergo a technological modernization. It might acquire all kinds of new equipment.
Let me give you an example. On the St. Lawrence River, the Coast Guard is trying to implement an electronic navigation system and to reduce the number of buoys in order to better fulfil its own mandate. This does, after all, involve ship safety and nautical safety. This could have an impact on personnel. What do you think about this potential technological modernization?
Secondly, since I don't have much time, I would like to go back to a point Mr. Wing mentioned earlier. I want to be very clear. You referred to the tragic incident at Anticosti Island. You may not have gone so far as to say this, but I want to make sure: if there were casualties or drownings, was it because of a lack of Coast Guard personnel?
I think it is important that we send a message to the population so that it knows that it is not true that when there is a disaster, the Coast Guard and the Department of National Defence cannot react quickly enough to guarantee the safety of the individuals involved. Here, I have the chronology of events at Anticosti Island. At 10:18 a.m. on September 29 a call came in from the vessel in distress and five ships were sent out on site, as well as two helicopters and a Hercules plane. From 10:18 a.m. to 11 o'clock, everything was done that could be done. Unfortunately, only the captain was saved, and two other sailors died. But there were seven-meter waves there, and 50-knot winds.
Thirty or thirty-five minutes after the call came in, people were already there and the only living person left was rescued. Five ships, two helicopters and an airplane were sent out. I don't want to say that the situation is easy for the Coast Guard, but I think that we should not alarm people by saying that the government is not shouldering its responsibilities. If we can improve things, all the better, but I think that we have to be clear and not use data that are inaccurate, in my opinion, to frighten people. I'm not saying that you did that, but I felt a need to clarify things, because this is an important message we are sending out, especially to the people who work in the marine field.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
And also to provide relief to your employees, probably.
View Georges Farrah Profile
Lib. (QC)
Wilfred Templeman, Louisbourg and E.P. Le Québécois.
Results: 1 - 15 of 153 | Page: 1 of 11

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data