Mr. Speaker, the issue on the floor of the House of Commons today is a very important one. It is more so important perhaps to my constituents and me than to a lot of other members on either the government side or the opposition benches.
I will clarify that by simply saying that coming from Brandon—Souris the economic backbone of my constituency is without question agriculture. Both from a direct and indirect standpoint the total economy developed in my community is based on agriculture. Therefore I feel very comfortable and very privileged to speak in the House, hopefully with some ability to convince the government the situation we are facing right now is one of crisis. That word has been used substantially today. I cannot help but use it again to identify the total crisis in the farm economy today.
I would like to thank the Reform Party, once and probably the last time in my illustrious political career, for putting the motion on the floor today so that we have an opportunity to debate it.