Mr. Speaker, the organizers of the rally had indicated that ministers were their preference to attend the meeting. Unfortunately, neither the minister of agriculture nor myself was available on the particular day that they had chosen. In fact both of us were working on other fronts to defend the interests of farmers, the minister of agriculture on his way to Japan and myself in Washington.
I understand that on other occasions the organizers had indicated that deputies were acceptable replacements, but in fact I was referring to the elected part of the government.