Mr. Speaker, as the agriculture minister said, agriculture is a joint federal-provincial responsibility under the constitution. The Reform Party has always championed the issue that the federal government should stay out of areas of provincial jurisdiction. “Get out of the provinces' faces” has been the Reform Party attitude.
I have some figures here. In the years 1995, 1996 and 1997 support payments by the federal government to Saskatchewan alone were $779 million, and to Manitoba, $258 million. That is two and a half times more than the provinces put in during that same period. What the Reform Party is saying right here and now is that it wants more federal intervention and more federal money for the provinces. I would like to know how the Reform Party reconciles that with its policy of the provinces first, the federal government second.