Mr. Speaker, I do not want to give a long speech. However, I listened very carefully to the member for PerthâMiddlesex, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.
I thought he explained particularly well the role of the federal government in dealing with natural disasters and how the special nature, magnitude and focus of a particular event and the nature of the farming community affected by the ice storm encouraged the federal government to move into the area of assisting part time farmers. We have great sympathy for the very large number of people in that category in eastern Ontario and Quebec. I think it was the particular circumstances and I think the member explained the federal government's position with respect to disasters.
The member opposite who raised this issue knows that we cannot anticipate the nature, scale or even location of disasters. Therefore we have to be flexible. In this case the needs of part time farmers were particularly strong.
I happen to know from personal knowledge that the member for Provencher has been working hard to get the province of Manitoba to amend its agreement. He has been encountering great difficulties at the level of the provincial government. I encourage the member for Provencher to continue doing that.