Mr. Speaker, I did appreciate the hon. member's comments because I come from a rural-urban riding mix as well and have a great support for the agriculture sector, in particular dairy agriculture.
I remind the hon. member of two points that this government has done. In the SEED program, which is summer employment for students, a program that has just recently been introduced, approximately one-quarter of my student applicants have applied for jobs in the farm sector. I would challenge the hon. member that the farm sector is still a vibrant sector in this country, that our young people are returning to the farms and that a nation that cannot feed itself is not a strong nation. I believe Canada is going in the right direction.
The second point I would remind the hon. member of is that with our budget in February of this year we retained the $500,000 capital gains exemption for small business and farms. Therefore farms could be passed on to the second generation or provide a strength of security for the farm family in the older days of their lives.
We have not done everything that we may, but we are going in the direction to preserve the family farm and to maintain a source of strong, excellent and healthy food supply for this country.