Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, the situation of Canadian farmers is critical. An August report of Statistics Canada stated:
The 2002 crop year will be remembered as one of the worst growing seasons for western Canada. Many producers believe that conditions were the driest ever experienced in the west.
The report shows that wheat production is expected to decline to the lowest level in 28 years.
This past summer the whole country saw nightly news stories about efforts to save cattle herds in areas of severe drought. Canadian farmers in central and eastern Canada responded with the hay west program and, belatedly, the federal government came on board to fund some rail cars for the donations of hay.
That was a minimal response. The federal government knew last spring that another drought was imminent and yet no planning was done to put in place a disaster relief fund to help those farmers.
The situation of Canadian farmers needs to be debated in the House as soon as possible. The throne speech made only the briefest mention of agriculture and nothing was said about the desperate situation of farmers suffering from drought. The program announced earlier in the year is simply not adequate.
We need a full discussion on ways to make government programs more responsive to the perils that face farming today. Agriculture is in a crisis which needs to be fully debated in an emergency debate in the House as soon as possible.