Mr. Speaker, I know where the member for Souris—Moose Mountain's sympathies lie. I sympathized with producers in my area and his area in 1999 when a lot of our constituents were unable to put in a crop. The worst thing that can happen for a producer is to see land sitting there and not allow it to grow a crop.
I could stand here and argue the insensitivity of the government in not providing proper support to the area as it did for the ice storm, the Red River Valley flood and other situations. However that is not the question. The question is whether the bill will allow the FCC to put the proper tools and money back into those areas.
The FCC always had the tools to put money into those areas but on an individual, one on one basis. The hon. member is a farmer. He recognizes that different operations are handled differently. Each operation has different commodities, different debt loads and different cash flows, and each must be dealt with individually.
The FCC, as any other bank, looks at the likelihood of repayment as the final requirement in deciding whether to put more dollars into those areas. I believe the FCC would consider investing in those areas, certainly more so than some of the large national banks that are pulling out of them. I am sure the member would agree that banks are not as forthcoming with agriculture, whether in our areas or other areas. Only the FCC would consider investing in those areas.
Credit unions may consider it as well. I give credit unions a lot of support for going into smaller areas and putting money back into the agricultural community, particularly in our areas.
We are finding it tough. There is no question. Some people in the area affected by the flood will not put in crops this year. It is as simple as that. Will the land be farmed? In most cases, yes. It will be rented out and farmed by someone else, but perhaps not by the right people. It should be farmed by the people who owned it originally but they have decided to get out of farming. That is sad. It is something we try to prevent, but unfortunately the government does not listen.