Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I listened to the parliamentary secretary try to outline his disappointment with the opposition members, but I think the farm community should be extremely disappointed in the government members.
In terms of this motion of André's, we're not proposing it as a single solution. We're proposing it as something the government could do with some immediacy. It would require immediate action, and it could be done at cabinet prior to Christmas. If the processing industry were to pass all of those costs down to industry, all those savings down to the producer, it would make a difference in the producer's bottom line. The bottom line for me is that it's something the government could do before Christmas.
The motion by the parliamentary secretary is so much of what the government has been doing for years, which is talking a good line but virtually doing nothing.
I want to go through a few of those points. The parliamentary secretary's motion is that this committee recommends that the government investigate these issues and basically do something. That is the bottom line.
Mr. Chair, let's look at the record. Does everyone remember during the last election campaign that the current government promised a 2¢-a-litre reduction in fuel for the farm community? Did we see it?