This is my time now, André.
I'm very concerned with his focus on the budget when, days and weeks before the budget was even tabled, he'd already said he wasn't going to support it. So I guess if the concern is that we're not delivering for Quebec, I would suggest that by not supporting this budget he's delivering even less for Quebec, because these moneys will certainly assist operations like Levinoff-Colbex and will certainly affect the potato cyst nematode area around St-Amable; we're addressing that.
When it comes to reinvestments and reallocations, I will never apologize for making sure that the programs offered by a government are bankable and predictable. If we find something during our strategic reviews and our reassessments and reallocations that is not working in the best interest of the farm gate, we will change it, and we have changed it. That's the bottom line. We'll continue to do that.
This idea that somehow AgriFlex is not designed in the way people demanded is absolutely ridiculous. When the CFA first talked about AgriFlex a number of years ago, they talked about a $50 million pot of money that would address marketing and get beyond the business risk suite that was available at that time and place. We have done that with this AgriFlex. I had the great opportunity to co-chair a federal-provincial meeting with my ministerial counterparts yesterday, and the general consensus around the table was that no one argued against making AgriFlex a proactive market-driven solution-finding pillar. We have the facilities in the other four pillars, under the business risk side, to backstop producers for the negative reactive side; we need something on the proactive side. That's what agriculture flexibility is all about, and I'm pleased to deliver it for farmers.
I agree with the member when he makes the statement about the American farm bill, but then I disagree with the member when he says we should walk away from the WTO, which eventually will have the power to pull back that farm bill. You can't have it both ways, Mr. Bellavance. You have to be there on the global supports for the WTO in order to address things like the U.S. farm bill, which goes way beyond what anybody wants it to do.
When it comes to the budget, we're doing our best. We're striving hard in these times of economic downturn to deliver for farmers what farmers are asking for. I think we have hit the target time after time. I had this discussion with my provincial colleagues yesterday. We're not against reassessment and reviews of the programs to make them work in the best interest of the farm gate. We'll continue to do that for every program at every juncture.