Mr. Chairman, to answer my colleague's last question first, he can bet I am. I have been saying that for a long time. I have said it today and I will continue to say that if other countries are not going to abide by the rules of the WTO and continue to subsidize their farmers, then the Canadian public, the taxpayers and the government need to support our producers to the same level. There is no question about that in my mind. If we send any other message to our competitors, all they have to do is wait us out. Our farmers cannot continue to compete on this uneven playing field as efficient as they may be.
I will come back to the member's question on the figures. There is another set of figures. The figures I quoted earlier were from the OECD as they relate to the percentage of subsidy support and how they compared prior to the last round of negotiations to where they are now. Although all countries have come down, Canada has come down to a much greater degree.
I would put on the record that OECD figures indicate that the per capita support for Canadian agriculture has declined by close to 40% over the past decade. During the same period, per capita support to American farmers increased by 22% and now exceeds the OECD average. In two countries, New Zealand and Australia, their total support for agriculture as a percentage of gross domestic product is certainly lower than that in Canada. They are the only countries that are lower.