Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the hon. member. I know one of his concerns is agriculture. He talked a lot about social housing and health care, but I would also have liked him to deal with agriculture. I have a question for him on this.
When the Liberals came to power, the Department of Agriculture had a $2.2 billion budget. For fiscal 2001-02, it is forecast to be $1.1 billion, a cut and a shortfall in the order of 48%.
Moreover, during the same period the government, through the Department of Agriculture, has started charging farmers fees in at least 42 areas where, previously, services were provided free of charge.
I would like to know what the member thinks of this situation and how our farmers are going to be able to remain competitive in such an environment.