Now I want to talk about the CAIS program, another invention of a previous administration. It got rid of some farm programs that actually brought benefits to farmers that farmers could appreciate.
I had farmers come into my office with their files. I found their files baffling. There was no consistency. I took some of these files home, photocopied them, and said, “I have to be able to understand.” I could not understand them.
I actually went to accountants later on because I thought, well, they work on this program and I could get some light shone on it. They were no clearer on this than I was. This thing was almost like the gun registry, as far as I was concerned, in trying to figure out what in the world was going on with this thing. It was just absolutely baffling.
But the ultimate, Madam Fraser, is that we create such a bureaucratic, complicated system that the poor farmers have to go to the government civil servants who officially can't tell them what the program is, but if they pay them on the side and get their advice, somehow they can work their way through this trap.
This thing really is kind of a shameful legacy, is it not?