Mr. Speaker, when we look at Canada's safety nets we look at the programs that have been developed and the programs that have evolved over the last many years. The programs have been focused on crisis management, the management of time when there is a great deal of problem. We have not really taken the lead in moving beyond that.
Canada must take steps with our international partners to make sure that rules for fair trade, rules for access to products of other countries and rules of subsidies need to be challenged and need to be met. There is no question that we need to set agreements that will ensure our farm community has the right and the opportunity to compete on an equal footing and on an equal basis.
When we talk about the kinds of strategies that are needed, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to talk quickly with the new President of the United States this week to bring forward some of the issues that have to do with trading in softwood lumber, industry or agriculture.
The fact is that Canada has farmers who are technically well advanced in production, who have a tremendous ability to produce food, and who are under the gun in unfair trade subsidies at this point in time. We have always arrived at situations where our farm community or others have run into those kinds of pressures and problems. I believe going beyond crisis management means that we manage a program that puts them on a fair footing with everybody else in the world, and that is most important. I have not met one farmer who does not want the opportunity to farm and compete on an equal square footing base with everyone else. That is what our farm community is demanding. That is what our Liberal government must deliver.