Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague from Palliser has raised an issue of extreme importance. The drought of 2001 is among the driest we have faced and will long be so remembered. In my own riding of Hastings--Frontenac--Lennox and Addington and across the country the drought will have a serious impact on many farm operations and farm families.
However I want to point out that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food never said and should never be quoted as saying things are rosy. We have the greatest agricultural producers in the world and that is why we support them.
While the extent of the damage will be uncertain until well after the harvest, clearly it will be substantial. So too will the response of the federal government. Indeed, $3.8 billion of assistance is available this year under federal-provincial income programs to help our producers beset by losses brought about by drought and other phenomena beyond their control. In addition, the October farm income forecast indicates that the drought will have a negative impact on revenue from the marketplace this year, but program payments and price increases will help offset some of the losses. Realized net income for Canada is expected to be $1.5 billion higher and in the province of Saskatchewan is expected to be $483 million higher in the year 2001 than in the year 2000.
We on this side of the House certainly hope that the drought's impact will be less than what we anticipated and in some measure we have had recent indications of this. Provincial crop insurance officials in Saskatchewan note that while “there are devastated areas, there is a lot more crop out there than expected”. That is a ray of good news for the many producers in Saskatchewan.