Agriculture committee  We look at my farm as a business. My son-in-law is Dean Hubbard, and he's a very smart guy and we work well together. It's a good solid name, right? It's not a way of life. You can't have a bunch of sentiments about it. It's a business. If it's not going to succeed, we're going to make widgets or do something different.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chairman, I always make a habit of not commenting on something I don't fully understand. I wasn't involved in the initial part of APF, but I have been involved and understand what went on. I can't answer your question honestly, from my judgment, on whether or not it's been done right or wrong.

Agriculture committee  I really don't know. I think I'll pass.

Agriculture committee  I'll make a quick comment. I think it has to be a fluid thing. Things are changing. A dollar doesn't buy today what it bought yesterday, and it'll buy less tomorrow.

Agriculture committee  I think it should be $1 million.

Agriculture committee  Myron, you make some excellent comments, and you basically asked about farming and the future. Farming is not really a way of life anymore, it's a business. A farm had better be run like a business or you won't be around tomorrow. Things are tough out there, and the changes are taking place quickly right now.

Agriculture committee  No, because it's a tax and if you--

Agriculture committee  The only comment I would make is that governments are always notorious, at every level, for coming out with a stabilization program when the industry is in the tank. The industry gets stabilized at the lowest possible level at which it can be stabilized, and this never works, of course.

Agriculture committee  I will take on the last one first. I'll just make a comment and I know the others will have something to say about that. We need to have rules and regulations around any program. We're dealing with public money, and you just can't throw public money around without making sure that it's followed, or else the government gets in trouble in a hurry.

Agriculture committee  I think the two parts to your question are excellent. One is about what happens to farmers for the future, and I wouldn't mind making a brief comment on what happens there. The second question has to do with programming. When I was minister, they would come to my desk with this stuff all the time.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Leroy Fjordbotten. I farm at Granum, south of here. People often don't know where Calgary is, so they usually ask where it is from Granum. So if you're asking the other way you probably have been in Granum. With me is Lorne Darlington, the executive director of AGCAT.