Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House this afternoon to ask a question of the member for Saskatoon-Dundurn.
I am quite taken aback by his very weak defence of the elimination of the Crow benefit for western Canadian farmers. I am taken aback because he says in his remarks that the elimination of the Crow benefit will take away almost half of the net farm income from farmers in Saskatchewan alone; it will reduce their land values by a significant amount; and it will double and in many cases triple freight rates for the transportation of grain. He said: "This is creating opportunities for farmers", that the Liberal program of eliminating the Crow benefit for farmers, which will devastate rural Saskatchewan and western and rural Canada, is creating opportunities for farmers.
This is reminiscent of another movie. The movie I refer to is in Saskatchewan with Grant Devine, the PC premier who bankrupted the province-he and his cabinet-almost single-handedly in nine short years. It was one of the wealthiest provinces in Canada. They fired 275 highway workers and their comment at that time was not "creating opportunities for farmers"; their comment was that they were freeing up the workers to participate in the private sector. That is exactly the same kind of comment, the arrogant positioning of the Liberal government with respect to the elimination of the Crow, that we hear today in this House of Commons.
I find that personally distasteful. I predict, and many farmers and other people in Saskatchewan predict, that come the next federal election we will not see one Liberal member of Parliament re-elected as a result of this single attack on farmers, as well as the rail-line abandonment issue.
The member for Malpeque, another Liberal member who voted in favour of the abolition of the Crow benefit, is now chairman of an agriculture subcommittee going around the country listening to farmers' concerns, joined by Reformers and other Liberals, to see what impact the elimination of the Crow benefit will be. We can tell them what the impact will be, but having the Liberal member for Malpeque and his other members go around the country listening to farmers' concerns is like putting a pack of wolves in charge of the hen-house. Liberal and Reform members are saying: "We want to hear what the impact will be, Mr. and Mrs. Farmer. Please tell us. Although we voted to eliminate it, we are going to try to listen to your concerns." That is a sham. That is a scam.
The Liberal member for St. Boniface, who participates in this debate from his seat, does not understand the issue because he does not have any rural component in his constituency. If he did, he would be in jeopardy of losing his seat as well.
How does the member from Dundurn explain that the elimination of the Crow benefit and massive rail-line abandonment will increase exports when in fact grain will not be produced for export in the same quantity as it is now? Farmers will be going bankrupt in substantial numbers and people will see a smaller number of farmers farming in western Canada. How does he square that?