I did mention briefly about the advance payments program. As a proactive measure, the government should be looking at the advance limits that are currently in place. Right now, if farmers have not delivered and paid down much of their advance and they're at the maximum $400,000—say they paid it down to $300,000 due to slow movement—they're running into a brand new program on April 1 and they're only eligible for another $100,000. That's catching some of them in the pinch between two programs, because the overall maximum is $400,000.
An easy fix would be to expand that limit to whatever the government would be comfortable with. We would say double it to $800,000. Farmers use the program for what it's intended for, which is to cash-flow themselves so they can market their grain appropriately. They can't market now because of the grain transportation problems that are plaguing the industry such that they're not able to sell their grain. That is one very proactive measure on the finance side.
Again, I don't want to take away from the focus on the service issues at hand. Bill C-49 is what we really need long term, and we really need that bill amended and passed. There are some good amendments coming forward. It needs to be done this year to get ready for next year, because this year, what's happening is going to happen. We can address some of the financing, as I suggested—a short-term Band-Aid fix to help farmers through it financially—but at the end of the day, Bill C-49 is the focus. We need to get it passed. We need to get it through the Senate. We need co-operation with the House to get royal assent on it before we go into the summer break, because we need to start next year in a lot better place than we have been this year.