I'm Glen Van Dijken, and I farm with my wife Barb, north of Edmonton, in Brian's riding of Westlock.
Alberta is a good place to come from. We're all competitive here. It's been good to be in the farming industry. I think this is my 28th year. I started into farming right out of high school. It's been my passion all my life. I was in a hog operation and also had a grain operation. We decided to wind down the hog operation a year and a half ago and stepped away from that.
Over the years, I've reflected many times on why we were doing this socialist farming in Canada and whether that was the route to go. It's really hard to get the balance. I see that the government has to do quite a balancing act in trying to figure out if they want to be involved in agricultural welfare. Over the years I haven't been able to come to a clear conclusion. I used to be really hard-nosed that the government had no business being involved in the red meat sector. But then we were dealing with other countries that were subsidizing production, and we had to do it. It's a really tough balancing act for you people, trying to keep free enterprise going within a socialist economic climate globally. There are no easy answers, but we really appreciate the effort.
There are pros and cons to all programs. Some guys fall through the cracks in programs. It's really quite difficult. I think you should continue to listen to your constituents, continue to hear their concerns, and continue to allow them to voice their concerns so that you can make informed decisions.