Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister likes to selectively quote statistics to mask what is really happening now on Canadian farms with regard to the financial crisis. I have two statistics for him.
First, for the year 2000 in Saskatchewan the total net income will only be 35% of the five year average which is already a disaster. Second, only half of the money that the minister promised over two years ago has been delivered. Farmers are on the brink of bankruptcy and are demanding emergency cash injections.
Why will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food not commit to an emergency cash injection right now before it is springtime?