Mr. Speaker, as we approach the parliamentary summer recess it would seem an appropriate time to evaluate the Liberal government's record over the past three years.
Broken promises permeate the pages of the red book and can be proven false by the actions of ministers and their departments.
The minister of agriculture is among the worst. He said he would keep article XI of the GATT. He signed it into oblivion. He said he would keep the Crow benefit. He scrapped it three months later. He said the Crow payment cheques would be out in January. It is the middle of June and thousands are not yet processed. He said he would implement a whole farm income stabilization plan. He could not get provincial agreement. He said he would support a plebiscite on continental barley marketing. He did not do it and he will not even respect a plebiscite on barley and wheat marketing recently held in Alberta. The minister typifies the cynical irony: "I am from the government and I am here to help you".
For years farmers have said: "Do the opposite to what the government tells you to do". It seems that this, too, is the motto of the minister of agriculture who has not done anything he said he would do.