Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely right. We have a serious farm crisis on the prairies, in other sectors of the agricultural economy and in other parts of the country as well. Yet the government's commitment to deal with that crisis constitutes nothing more than a commitment to continue discussions about what might be done.
It is absolutely clear that we need to put in place workable income stabilization programs. We called in advance of the budget for a commitment to do that. That is exactly what the farmers and farm families have called for. That is exactly what farm communities, municipal leaders and business leaders in those farm communities have called for. They know that, if the government does not begin to act on the farm crisis, it will devastate not just the lives of a great many farmers and their families but it will devastate whole rural parts of the country.