Mr. Speaker, the member has raised an excellent point. We have seen the farm crisis. I brought that up when we talked about the TAGS program for the fisher people in Atlantic Canada.
We need to help these people but we need stated objectives. We want to make sure that when we help people that the money we invest in these programs actually reaches them. Unfortunately, it goes down sinkholes and to government patronage programs. Look at the TAGS program in Atlantic Canada; $2.8 billion later and those people are worse off when the program was shut down than they were when it started.
On this side of the House we in the Canadian Alliance believe there are situations where we are going to invest and help people. We are going to have stated objectives. That is what private member's Bill C-477 by the member for St. Albert proposes: what is our objective, is it going to be effective, is it being delivered efficiently and can we do it better?
That is what this is all about. For the people that need it in circumstances like the farm crisis, yes we will invest in these programs. That money will reach the people. It will not get gobbled up in a bureaucracy. It will not get gobbled up in administration. We will evaluate it and make sure that it is doing what it is supposed to be doing.
We have heard the government talk about all the money it is giving to the farm crisis over and over again. Many of my colleagues are from that part of the country and they have told me time and time again that it is not reaching anyone. These programs are delivered inefficiently and ineffectively. That goes to the core of the problem of the government.
I started off my speech by saying that this is a budget of tinkering and tokenism. The government takes a dollar, gives us back a dime and we are supposed to thank it.
The members in the Canadian Alliance are united more than ever right now about making a difference in the country. They are not going to stop until they do. It is time we brought change to this institution, accountability and credibility. We are going to fight for this to the bitter end and we are not going to give up.