Mr. Speaker, as the proceedings in the House wind down for the summer, many MPs will return home for a well deserved break from the daily grind in Ottawa. Although I am looking forward to the next few months in my riding, I dread witnessing the despair and loss of hope given the serious drought in my constituency.
Provost, Consort, Wainwright, Camrose, Stettler, Hanna, Drumheller and Oyen, as well as other parts of central Alberta have had no rain prompting many constituents like Kurt and Lynn Cole to write. They said:
--depression is written on people's faces as they are forced to sell their cattle and as they consider what they are going to do about their land that is drying and blowing away... intelligent hard working people simply cannot compete...there just is no release. As we sit and listen to you guys in parliament...our dear neighbour has taken his cattle that's been in his family for two generations to market.
For the sake of my constituents and all Canadian farmers, I beg the government to do something to restore hope and to address this serious and devastating situation.
The government should do more than flip a coin with the hopes of farmers: heads, government wins; tails, farmers lose.