Mr. Speaker, it is abundantly clear that the federal government recognizes the importance of the agricultural sector and the significant hardships faced by farmers. This is one of the reasons for our long history of support programs and continuing efforts to help farmers.
As the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River knows well, the federal government contributes $600 million annually for support programs such as crop insurance, NISA and companion programs. However, the severe economic problems led to numerous improvements to existing programs and the establishment of AIDA, with a federal commitment of nearly $1.1 billion for the 1998 and 1999 crop years. These measures are helping farmers cope with the current difficulties.
In contrast to the hon. member's comments, AIDA has been of benefit to thousands of farmers in the prairies and many others across the country. AIDA has already paid out nearly $500 million for the 1998 crop year alone, with roughly half of that amount going to the prairies. Further, we expect that the balance of federal-provincial AIDA funding will be spent once 1999 applications are processed.
With respect to the next two crop years, we recently announced an additional injection of $1 billion, increasing the federal government's contribution to $2.2 billion.
Hon. members may rest assured that the federal government will continue to work closely with provincial governments, and we are working closely with provincial governments to ensure that sufficient disaster assistance is provided in the most timely manner possible.