Mr. Speaker, in my riding there are a number of farmers who have applied for AIDA. Very few, if any, that I know of have received any funding. Most of them have been denied. Many have come to my office with the forms and I can honestly say that I have never seen such complicated, ridiculous types of forms that farmers are expected to fill in to accomplish this task of making an application.
I have an accounting degree and I can understand why accountants are having such severe problem with it. Why is the government making this so complicated for the average farmer? Why is it using, according to Stats Canada, 1997 stats in order to make decisions regarding AIDA? This is 1999. Why are we using dated stats to deny farmers this support?