Thanks, Chair.
I want to make a couple of comments on some of the comments that have been going around at this meeting.
The first is regarding the per head payment. Mr. Easter now says that it's a terrible thing. However, I have a quote here. He was on the radio in June 2009. The member for Malpeque acknowledged that the risk of trade retaliation “can be seen as a trade violation, and that's true”. That's what he said on the radio, Chair, that per head payments could be seen as a trade violation.
He's also done a lot of flip-flopping. I'll give a few more quotes. One of the quotes he gave, again on the radio, was “I think it would be wrong to say it wouldn't help. Federal loans will certainly help.” I was talking about the loan program for helping hog farmers. So he agrees with us on that.
Then he says, “That's going to give them more usable cash.” That's another quote in favour of us, Chair.
Then he says--