Mr. Speaker, yes. I did not hear a question as such, but I would like to maybe echo some of the sentiments I heard.
Rural Manitoba, the province I am from is suffering from the depopulation, the flight of capital, the flight of families, the flight of people, industry, et cetera.
The previous speaker spoke very eloquently about this obviously from personal experience. Nothing we see in this piece of legislation is going to stem that tide nor is it going to take any steps to address the issues that are really facing rural Canada.
It is significant to note that the budget did not talk about agriculture. Also it has been very odd that in the eight or nine months I have been a rookie member of Parliament agriculture has been raised very, very few times. I understand a number of pressing issues from all across Canada compete for our interest but surely, in previous Parliaments, agriculture stood more front and centre than we see now in the House of Commons.