Mr. Speaker, maybe there is some foreshadowing there with respect to the Filmon government and the NDP government. The federal government also agreed to the AIDA and perhaps it may well be a former federal government.
Let us talk about the issues brought up by the member for Charleswood St. James—Assiniboia. First, the GRIP was put into place and it was and is a good program in those provinces that still continue with it; FIDP in Alberta and the MRI program in Ontario.
It was to the government's detriment that GRIP was taken away in 1995. Had the government had vision, it could have seen that the commodity prices are very cyclical in the farming economy. One government and a provincial government suggested they did not want to have it for the opportunity of saving money, as the federal government did when it took away its contribution to the GRIP. Perhaps it should have seen down the road that this program was going to be necessary in 1999, 2000 or 2001, instead of getting rid of it. It was short term gain for long term pain.
As for the provincial government, yes, Manitoba did give $50 an acre for unseeded acreage. That came totally at the expense of the provincial government. The federal government has still not made its commitment to that $50 per acre.