Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for your testimony.
I want to reassure you. You are not the only ones who believed that the Conservative government was really going to introduce an AgriFlex program.
During the election campaign, and even after that, just before the budget, that is what the Conservatives announced. I remember seeing, among the list of election promises, a truly flexible program that was in the works and that the provinces could use to meet their specific requirements. I have no recollection whatsoever of having heard either the Minister of any other Conservative candidate say that income support would be specifically excluded from such a program.
I'd like to take you back to that period. When you say that the four parties agreed to set up an AgriFlex program, that is because you heard it somewhere. I imagine you were given assurances, it was your perception or, at the very least, you heard someone on the Conservative side say, during the election campaign, that this new program would really be the one you were seeking and, in particular, that it would not exclude income support.