Mr. Speaker, I appreciate being part of this debate. From my point of view and my constituents' point of view this will be one of the most important debates in this session of parliament. Farmers across the country who are certainly listening as we discuss this issue in the House will hopefully get some indication of where the government is coming from on the issue.
In order to have a productive and useful debate, the members opposite must be open to the arguments put forth by the opposition parties. That does not appear to be what is happening today. This is the case, of course, in all debates but it is particularly crucial when debating an agricultural issue.
Farmers from across Canada are suffering serious economic hardship. Unfortunately few are represented by Liberal government members in this House. Outside of Ontario the Liberal government holds very few rural seats. It is extremely difficult for rural farmers to make their voices heard when dealing with an urban based government. It is for this reason that debates like this one are so important.
As a rural Canadian third generation farmer, I am especially close to this issue. I am extremely troubled by the government's dismissive attitude toward the issue. Thus far the government has done little more than minimize the magnitude of the problem. We heard just that from the previous two speakers.
Government ministers have not even gone so far as to acknowledge there is an income problem let alone a net farm income crisis. Whether the government has acknowledged it or not, the farm income crisis is very real, painfully real, for farmers feeling its effect.