Madam Speaker, could my colleague, who welcomes the fact that the government is providing a great deal of assistance to western farmers to help them adapt to the elimination of the Crow rate and sale of hopper cars, remind his finance minister that, over five years, he has cut $220 million in subsidies to dairy producers, nearly half of whom are located in Quebec, without offering them any transitional help?
This same government paid $1.6 billion directly to producers, $1 billion to promote export and $300 million to improve transportation-hopper cars, as the member explained so well.
In total, the Canadian government will spend $2.9 billion on western grain producers, and close to $1 billion to help three maritime provinces harmonize the GST and their provincial sales tax.
Does he not believe that his government is using a double standard?