Mr. Speaker, certainly I support a campaign along those lines but we would have to look at the details. The Leader of the Opposition and I met with the ex-premier of Manitoba this summer, along with the Rural Disaster Coalition people. We in fact called for the very same thing.
The consumers of Toronto are very important to agriculture in not only the west but all areas of agriculture because they consume and pay for food. They also vote to put MPs into the House to represent them. The interest of consumers is served by keeping a viable agriculture sector and reasonably priced food. As a result I support that.
The last comment I would make gets back to the performance of the agriculture minister. The government and the agriculture department have to be very careful about putting out press releases with regard to what is happening by way of support. He mentioned again today that farmers received $1.1 billion. He did not say this today but he has said that provincial governments put in their part, bringing the figure up to $2 billion.
Consumers in Toronto think that farmers have obtained $2 billion. They have not. They have a portion of it but they are still to get it all. We are in agreement that consumers are important.