Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question.
In 1993 our trade negotiators knew what kind of subsidies we were fighting and what had to be done to get a market that would be fair and provide a level playing field to farmers in North America. That was not done. That was neglected. We were sympathetic to what had to be done. Instead of reducing our subsidies 15%, we reduced them 85%.
Farmers were willing to do that because they knew what the problem was. As long as there was a market and decent prices, we did not complain about losing the extra profit. Today that has to be returned to the farming sector. The unfairness of the deal negotiated by the trade negotiators was not the fault of the farmers. It was the government's fault. The Liberals are the government. We as the opposition can only point out to them what the problem is and what funds are needed.
The government does the books and it has to make sure that the money is somewhere. I do not think farmers care from where it comes, whether it is out of NISA or out of the GRIP program which was dissolved in all three prairie provinces. Farmers have to have some support to tide them over until we get a level playing field and prices improve. And they will.
In 1971 the government gave us $6 an acre to summer fallow and we had a billion bushels of wheat that we could not sell. By 1974 we could not find a kernel of wheat in a granary anywhere because the demand was there. When millions of people are starving to death—