Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture.
Yesterday rather surprisingly the transportation minister apparently told the media that next summer the government will stop paying subsidies to the railways that defray the cost of shipping grain to Vancouver and Thunder Bay. In the 1993-94 year these subsidies amounted to almost $650 million.
This is something which Reformers have advocated for years as part of a comprehensive, well thought out agricultural reform package. Yet until yesterday western farmers had not heard anything of this from the Minister of Agriculture.
What role did the agriculture department play in this decision and what policies and plans does the minister have to prepare the grains industry to adjust to this dramatic change?