Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member to the House. We congratulate him on his byelection win in Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar.
I will deal with the points he has raised and the general and severe challenges being faced by the farm sector.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the government clearly recognize the very serious nature of the financial situation many Canadian farmers are currently facing. Our government is taking the broadest possible approach to this situation.
The WTO agriculture negotiations are an important opportunity to seek greater disciplines in the use of production and trade distorting subsidies. Canada's initial position in these trade negotiations, which was developed through two years of extensive consultations with Canadians, makes it clear that we will seek the complete elimination of agricultural export subsidies and maximum reductions in production and trade distorting domestic support programs, including an overall limit of all sorts and all types of domestic support programs.
The close co-operation between the government and the Canadian agriculture and agri-food industry that characterizes the development of Canada's initial agriculture negotiating position was also fully present at the Seattle WTO ministerial conference held at the beginning of December 1999. The continuation of this team Canada approach as the negotiations progress will ensure that Canada will achieve the very best results possible for farmers right across Canada. While I recognize that the negotiations will take time and they likely cannot make the situation better in the next year or two, they are the only way to solve the problem of subsidies distorting agricultural markets once and for all.
In response to an industry request on January 13 of this year, the Government of Canada made a new commitment of up to $1 billion for the next two years to design a new disaster program to assist those producers most in need. Also a new spring advance payment program will provide assistance quickly before spring crops are planted. Individual farmers will be able to access up to $20,000 in interest free loans to help get their crops in the ground. Applications should be available in the coming weeks.