Mr. Speaker, the new safety net program requires farmers to deposit $26,000 cash into an account in order to have full coverage of a production margin of $100,000.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food does not deposit any government money up front. This is a double standard.
Farmers cannot afford to have $26,000 cash tied up all year in a low interest account. If the government cannot afford to put the money into the account, why would it expect a farmer to?