Madam Speaker, I have two questions for the member for Prince Albert-Churchill River.
The first one is with regard to agriculture. During the election campaign I heard this member and many of his colleagues from Saskatchewan defending agricultural programs, saying they were going to defend the farmers, that these things would not change, that the funds would keep coming.
By what reasoning can he defend his government's actions of drastically reducing the funds farmers receive? We came clearly up front during the election and said that we would take these funds and there would be a reduction. However, those funds would go into an account that would help prepare the farmer and protect him from subsidies by other foreign nations. Now the farmer is left with nothing. How can the member possibly reconcile this new radically different position from what they said during the election?
The second question is with regard to the MP pension plan. I am wondering how this member can justify borrowing money to pay himself and his colleagues a huge pension.
Why is it important to opt out of the MP pension plan, a very extravagant plan? It is important that we set the example. We can always find excuses about why we deserve more and how we ought to have more. If we realize as parliamentarians what a mess this country is in, I am wondering if we do not have to start by setting the example.
I was recently asked a question after this was announced of whether the MP pension plan will hurt me personally. Of course it will. If I opt out, it is as if I had the winning ticket in a lottery and never went to pick up my million dollars. Of course it will hurt. I will always know and live with that fact, that I could have gone back to my constituents and justified the fact that I deserved that money. However, I think there is a time when principles count for something. We are opting out to signal to Canadians how serious our problems are. I am wondering how this hon. member can justify borrowing more money to pay MPs an extravagant pension.