Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support that I am getting with regard to the motion we have put forward.
I reiterate what I said in my speech in case people missed it. First we have to acknowledge that there is a crisis. The minister has yet to do that. We cannot begin to solve the problem if we do not first acknowledge that there is a crisis. That is where we should begin. If we are to solve that crisis we have to go to the root of the problem.
Farmers know the root of the problem. For us to sit in the House and try to dictate what the solution is to the farmers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario or wherever a crisis is being experienced, will not work. The bureaucrats here have mucked it up so badly that they will not do a better job, in my estimation, if we continue along this way.
I saw statistics a short time ago where if we took the salaries of all the bureaucrats—there is one bureaucrat for every 5.7 farmers and they do not work for peanuts—and divided it among farmers, we would probably not have a crisis.
We have to look at the big picture. We have to look at what farmers are telling us. If the solution comes from Ottawa it will distort the market even more. We need to have the solution coming from farmers. We have to do it soon. The crisis is here. We have to address it right now. That is where we begin.