Mr. Speaker, I said right from the start that there was not a strict deadline of April 1. The hon. member has heard me say that a number of times. We have time to continue to develop the business risk management aspect of the agricultural policy framework. As the ministers agreed in the last federal-provincial ministers meeting, when that is completed, any federal-provincial agreement that needs to be signed, because they do cease on March 31 of this year, will be retroactive to April 1 of 2003.
In the House of Commons on March 28th, 2003. See this statement in context.