Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the people from Surrey Central I am very pleased to participate in this debate on the agricultural industry. I would also like to extend my thanks to our agriculture critics, the hon. member for Selkirk--Interlake and the hon. member for Cypress Hills--Grasslands, who have done an excellent job in being proactive and listening to the farmers about their concerns time after time.
I can tell viewers as well as members that before doing my M.B.A. I did my first degree in agriculture honours at the number one university in Asia, Punjab Agricultural University. I mention this because the university worked together with the government of Punjab state and brought about a green revolution in the state. The Punjab has an area of about 2% of the country but it produces over 70% of the food for the whole country. This shows how effective a government role, as well as that of an institution, can be in bringing about a green revolution.
From the agricultural perspective here in Canada, when I compare it with my experience of agriculture in India, I believe that the government approach in Canada is one of neglect, not only in the budget, health care or various other areas such as defence, organized crime, terrorism and so on, but specifically in agriculture. Farmers have not been listened to by government in regard to their problems and neither does the government appear to be looking forward to addressing the problems. I do not see any political will from the government to address those issues.