Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is obviously not listening. I never asked for more money to be added to the pot.
I suggested that the $1.5 billion, that has continued to be used as the number distributed to agriculture, should be distributed. The number now stands at $200 million for 1998. The reason the minister of agriculture is tinkering with the program now is because he is embarrassed. The criteria that were put into place in that program were so restrictive that it never had the opportunity of putting the money out that was necessary to get out.
I think the government should be embarrassed that $1.5 billion is available and only $200 million has gone out to desperate farmers who need it. When the government changes the criteria to reasonable criteria then the full $1.5 billion can be distributed to the people who really need it, not one out of every two applications being denied.