Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House of Commons I again asked the government to delay its plans to immediately eliminate the Crow benefit until a more detailed review of the long term implications of this decision was completed. I want to bring to the attention of the minister of agriculture that other farm
experts have today said that the government may be moving too quickly.
Testifying in front of a committee today, Ron Leonhardt from the Unifarm organization said: "When great changes are being made, there must be a transition period". On behalf of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, Ron Gleim said that the federal government may have moved too fast with not enough money. He expressed concern about the unsubstantiated government claim that crop diversification and value added production would replace the Crow losses by saying: "Hoping and praying will not pay the bills".
There has not been enough attention paid to the question of how producers will be able to manage the change thrust upon them and how long this will take. I think the federal government had better take the time to adequately-