Speech (committee meeting)

{
    "time": "2009-10-05 09:30:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Mike Nabuurs (Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture)",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"1621238\" data-originallang=\"en\">I'm going to touch on a couple of things that will complement the red meat issue that Ernie has already expanded on here this morning.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621239\" data-originallang=\"en\">The first of those is the need for expanded funding in the research area for agriculture in Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes. We are trying to diversify and expand our crops further from potatoes and more into grains and oilseeds. There has been a reduction in research in agriculture in those areas, especially in Prince Edward Island. It will be very important to return to previous levels or to expand on existing levels of research so that we can solve some of the issues that our crop sector is facing. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621240\" data-originallang=\"en\">Grains in particular were in the news recently, with milling wheat on Prince Edward Island. We have an expanding milling wheat sector, but we need to have crops that are able to be grown in our specific climate, and we need to ensure that the processes and the research are in place so that we can continue to expand our milling wheat sector. It has tremendous potential. So research is one area, of course, where we need expanded funding, and we have a recommendation in our document.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621241\" data-originallang=\"en\">The second area is energy. Electricity rates in Prince Edward Island are the highest in Canada, if not in North America. Our farmers are at a huge disadvantage because of those energy input costs. I don't need to tell anyone how much it costs to fill up your car with fuel. Those energy costs, of course, are all being handled by our farmers and put our farmers at a huge disadvantage. We need money so that farmers can access and implement on-farm energy projects to reduce their carbon footprint and to perhaps try to find ways to increase revenue on their farms by producing alternative energies. So research in that area and funding so that farmers can implement those projects on their farms are key.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621242\" data-originallang=\"en\">We just touched on three very small things, very important things, however, and there would be many more if we had more time.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621243\" data-originallang=\"en\">Thank you.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"1621238\" data-originallang=\"en\">Les points que je vais aborder s'ajoutent \u00e0 ce que Ernie a dit au sujet de la production de viande rouge. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621239\" data-originallang=\"en\">D'abord, il faut accro\u00eetre le financement de la recherche agricole \u00e0 l'\u00cele-du-Prince-\u00c9douard et dans les Maritimes. Nous essayons de diversifier et d'\u00e9tendre notre production en misant moins sur les pommes de terre et davantage sur les c\u00e9r\u00e9ales et les ol\u00e9agineux. Il y a eu baisse de la recherche dans ces domaines, notamment \u00e0 l'\u00cele-du-Prince-\u00c9douard. Il est donc essentiel de revenir aux niveaux ant\u00e9rieurs ou d'accro\u00eetre les niveaux de recherche existants pour que nous puissions trouver une solution aux probl\u00e8mes auxquels nous sommes confront\u00e9s.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621240\" data-originallang=\"en\">Il a \u00e9t\u00e9 question r\u00e9cemment dans les m\u00e9dias de l'industrie c\u00e9r\u00e9ali\u00e8re, et notamment de la production de bl\u00e9 de mouture \u00e0 l'\u00cele-du-Prince-\u00c9douard, un secteur en pleine croissance. Or, si nous voulons \u00eatre en mesure de produire des vari\u00e9t\u00e9s qui sont adapt\u00e9es \u00e0 notre climat, nous devons nous assurer d'avoir en place des processus et des programmes de recherche qui nous permettront de continuer de soutenir l'expansion de ce secteur au potentiel \u00e9norme. Il faut donc encourager la recherche, bien s\u00fbr, et accro\u00eetre le financement de celle-ci. Nous formulons d'ailleurs une recommandation en ce sens dans notre expos\u00e9.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621241\" data-originallang=\"en\">Ensuite, l'\u00e9nergie. Les tarifs d'\u00e9lectricit\u00e9 \u00e0 l'\u00cele-du-Prince-\u00c9douard sont les plus \u00e9lev\u00e9s au Canada, si ce n'est en Am\u00e9rique du Nord. Nos agriculteurs subissent un d\u00e9savantage important sur le plan du co\u00fbt des intrants \u00e9nerg\u00e9tiques. Vous savez tous combien co\u00fbte un plein d'essence. Or, ces co\u00fbts sont tous absorb\u00e9s par le milieu agricole, ce qui a pour effet de le placer dans une situation nettement d\u00e9favorable. Il nous faut des cr\u00e9dits pour aider les agriculteurs \u00e0 investir dans des projets \u00e9nerg\u00e9tiques qui r\u00e9duiront leur empreinte carbone, et \u00e0 trouver des moyens de g\u00e9n\u00e9rer des revenus \u00e0 partir de sources d'\u00e9nergie de remplacement. Il faut donc intensifier la recherche et majorer le financement, et ce, afin de soutenir les efforts des agriculteurs dans ce domaine. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621242\" data-originallang=\"en\">Nous n'avons abord\u00e9 que trois aspects, quoique fort importants, de la probl\u00e9matique. Nous pourrions explorer bien d'autres th\u00e8mes si nous avions plus de temps.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1621243\" data-originallang=\"en\">Merci.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/committees/finance/40-2/47/mike-nabuurs-1/",
    "politician_url": null,
    "politician_membership_url": null,
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "2876837",
    "document_url": "/committees/finance/40-2/47/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fcommittees%2Ffinance%2F40-2%2F47%2F"
    }
}