Mr. Speaker, prior to the Christmas break, I had the opportunity to ask the minister of agriculture about putting cash in the hands of needy farmers. Obviously, he did not say too much.
Let us be very clear that the situation in which many farmers find themselves is really not their fault. The current crisis is precipitated by two things: one, the weather, which is really out of the control of farmers; and two, the low commodity prices, which is also out of their control.
No one in the country can accuse the Canadian farmer of being inefficient. Canadian farmers are the leaders in the world on efficiency and their plight is not due to the lack of efficiency or diversification.
In my riding of Dauphin—Swan River many farmers are on the brink of going broke. A portion of them were hit with an overabundance of moisture this past spring. Many are struggling because of the poor prices they have received over the last couple of years.
We, as a country, as a farming community, cannot compete with the Europeans and Americans who support their farmers with very large subsidies. Farm subsidies today are staggering for European farmers who receive 56 cents out of every dollar. American farmers receive 39 cents out of every dollar. Canadian farmers, often accused of asking for subsidies, really receive very small subsidies. Today they receive 9 cents on the dollar.
In fact, Canadian farmers do not want a subsidy. They just want fair prices for their product.
The American president does not think twice about helping his farmers in the United States. It is unfortunate that Canada will not stand for its farmers. They are our sole source of food, which is essential to this country. What is more important than to ensure a secure supply of food?
Canadian farmers do not want a subsidy, as I have indicated. They only want a fair price for what they produce. They also want to control what they produce. The Canadian Wheat Board must change with the times and become more flexible. Today Canadian farmers are receiving 1932 wheat prices. How can we expect anyone farming in 1999-2000 to survive at 1932 cash receipts for their product? At $2.57 a bushel, farmers cannot even think of recovering the input costs for their crop, let alone try to make a living.
This past year many farmers have knocked on the doors of my constituency offices looking for solutions and asking what the federal government is going to do to help them.
There are two solutions: long term and short term. A short term solution is needed today. Many of our farmers in Manitoba will be leaving the farms if there is no short term assistance. In Manitoba there are over 24,000 farm families and many of them will be at risk. What is lacking is cash. That is what farmers need in the short term. They need help. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food must find a vehicle to put cash into the hands of farmers before this spring.
Let us not get hung up on the long term solutions. We all know they are important, but farmers need help right now. They are crying out for help.
I advocated to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to put in place a crop acreage reduction program. This vehicle is already in place. It is called the PFRA. In fact, in the 1980s the PFRA, through a crop reduction program, took two million acres out of production and put $200 million into the hands of needy farmers. There is no reason this cannot be done again.
This farm disaster has had a large impact, not only on farmers, but also on small town Canada. As a country, do we want to decimate our rural culture? We are a country which is proud of its cultures, both urban and rural.