Mr. Speaker, farm families in northern Alberta are suffering terribly because of this summer's extreme drought conditions.
Many of the municipalities in the province of Alberta have declared this region a disaster area. This should qualify affected drought areas for federal tax deferral on the sale of breeding livestock.
The federal minister of agriculture responded by recommending to the finance minister that he approve tax deferral for farmers affected by the drought. The finance minister must be just too interested in spending his multibillion dollar EI surplus to notice the troubles of farmers. So far there has been no response.
These farmers have suffered enough hardship. The very least the finance minister could do is step up and help these farmers by giving them desperately needed access to the tax deferment provision.