Mr. Speaker, climatologists have confirmed that warmer weather associated with El Nino is now under way and that Canada should begin to experience its influence by December. This will lead to a milder winter and possibly drier conditions in the prairie region next summer.
Drier conditions on the Prairies would mean a third year of drought. The government's response to this past summer's drought was slow and insensitive.
A third year of drought will have a devastating effect on farmers who have now seen their operations eroded over the past two years. Prairie farmers cannot withstand another year of off-grade grain samples, grasshoppers, low commodity prices, bankruptcies, farm foreclosures, herd dispersals and a dwindling water supply.
I urge the government to develop contingency plans to deal with the potential disaster of a third year of drought. Farmers should not be forgotten again.