That’s great. Thank you very much.
I’m pinning a lot of hopes on this July meeting, but it’s still a long way off, Minister, given last year’s losses and the fact that expenditures for seeds and other items for this year have already happened.
I’d also like you to keep in mind the beef producers in Abitibi. You referred to the time when agricultural producers were invited to a committee meeting. Some producers had to sell their cattle because they didn’t have enough hay to feed them. They now find themselves with additional income, and will therefore receive no compensation. We need to think outside the box here, Minister.
As far as Farm Credit Canada is concerned, a few agricultural producers have told me that they’ve been charged 18% interest on overdue loans. At a previous committee meeting, I asked the Farm Credit representative about that, and he replied that it must have been an isolated case. Since then, however, I’ve been made aware of a few other such examples.
Don’t you think that, as minister, you could take a look at this issue and see whether this farm credit organization isn’t straying from its mission, which is to help farmers, when it charges interest rates similar to those for credit cards?