Mr. Speaker, maybe that is one of the differences between this party and the party of the hon. member for Québec-Est. We feel that within government if we are going to
make changes that really directly affect Canadians, in this case farmers, changes that will work in their best interest, that throwing a pot of money at them is not going to solve the problem.
We think that by taking the money we have there and spending it more wisely and making sure that money is not directed for overhead or administration but is directed into the hands of Canadians is probably the better approach.
In terms of his question on the cap on wheat, I am sorry I missed the announcement. I have not heard that there was an announcement on a cap on wheat. In fact if the hon. member might be more honest with it he will know that in fact there is not a cap on wheat yet. However, there is a question of whether or not we should negotiate a settlement.
If anyone in this House thinks that world trade is fair they do not have a clue on how the world trade system works. In fact it is not a fair system. Canada represents a very small percentage of trade done in the world. In relative terms it is important to us in terms of our gross domestic product and its importance to Canada but we are a small country. To suggest that we could stand at a table one on one with the Americans, they do not have to play fair, frankly.
The former Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Whelan, who used to sit in this House used to constantly say: "The Americans never agreed to a GATT decision because they didn't have to". It is not a fair decision. One of the points that the minister was making to them was this. He said very clearly and he said it in this House a number times that we are not prepared to trade one part of the country off against another part of the country. We are not prepared to trade one sector of this country off against another sector of the country.
In fact, if you remember both the comments by the Prime Minister and the Minister for International Trade, they were not prepared to deal with this in one lump sum. They were going to go sector by sector by sector. We feel we have a strong position. We feel that the Americans will in the end give in on this because they have to and because they are wrong. We are prepared to stand forth and fight on behalf of Canadian farmers to make sure that point of view is put forward.