Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the member from Calgary Centre that one of the problems we have is the bureaucracy and the red tape in terms of getting money out to the farmers who need the cash. Somehow we have to figure out a way that is more efficient and speedy in terms of getting money out to people who actually need it.
It seems to me very strange in the modern age of technology with the Internet and computers that we cannot be more efficient in terms of speed and more expeditious in terms of getting money out to the farmers in this country who need it.
The other thing I wanted to say to the member for Calgary Centre is that we should at this time as well be looking at a long term farm policy, making sure that there is some program that guarantees the farmer a return that somehow reflects on the farmer's costs of production. That is not the case today. If the farmer got back the costs of production in the long run, then there would be some way that that farmer, he or she, could plan their lives.
Workers, for example, have trade unions and collective agreements, so there is some kind of a guarantee. Doctors, dentists and lawyers have fees that are negotiated and set so there is some kind of a guarantee of a fee level.
The farmers are at the whim of the international marketplace and the weather. Therefore, they have no guarantees or very few, except for crop insurance and some of those programs.
We should be addressing our minds to devising some kind of a long term program that is based on the costs of production for grain farmers in particular, but also for livestock farmers so that there will be some guarantees what the farmer receives in the fall from a crop or from the livestock produced.