Mr. Speaker, I have not spoken on this issue yet and I hope to do a five minute but I do want to ask the hon. member a question. He said his party has a record of stating it would support Canadian farmers.
The hon. member should know that in the last election, under the famous Tory blue book, the Tories wanted to take $600 million out of the ministry of agriculture. It says: “The first is to merge four existing federal departments: Agriculture and Agri-Food, Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, and Natural Resources. A Jean Charest government will continue to expand the practice of cost recovery. With the trend of these negotiations, a Jean Charest government will be moving to reduce and eventually eliminate all farm subsidies. Since agricultural subsidy programs will inevitably be phased out around the world, there is a distinct advantage to Canadian farmers of making this transition as soon as possible”.
I want to ask the hon. member how he can—