Madam Speaker, I am totally flabbergasted to hear comments like that. I am quoting people like the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Jacques Desrosiers, President of the Association des engraisseurs de bovins du Québec, and Laurent Pellerin of the UPA. I have also quoted people from my riding, people from Saint-Joachim-de-Courval.
Of the 22 municipalities in my riding, 20 are rural. All summer I have crisscrossed the various areas and rural municipalities and the remarks I made are based on authentic numbers. I verified them with the farmers and with people like the presidents of the Association des engraisseurs or the UPA. And I have just been told I have been providing inaccurate information.
It is true that the problem has not yet been solved but what he said about consumers is not true. Let him come into my riding and see if beef consumption has gone up. People do not have the money they once had to buy beef. The price of beef to the consumer has not gone down. It is the same as before, despite the fact that producers are selling their beef, and their cows, the culled cattle, for lower prices. I do not know where he got his figures, but I know that mine are not the same. I would like to sit down with him and go over them, because mine have been verified.
It is really insulting to hear the parliamentary secretary accuse us of providing inaccurate information when we did some serious research. I do not know where he got his figures, but I have my doubts about them.
I would like to come back to the minister's attitude yesterday, when he met with the ministers of agriculture. They have to get down on their knees and plead with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and tell him there are people who have needs and who are being forced into bankruptcy; some are even having nervous breakdowns. I hope he watches the news, because this week we saw a western farmer who was in tears and he is not the only one there in this situation. People are very worried right now. There are even some who are threatening suicide. It is starting to get serious.
We were just told that $1 billion is available but an understanding cannot be reached with the provinces because two or three of them do not want to sign the agreement. First, the provinces have to be brought to their knees and, once the government has the upper hand, then they will get the $1 billion. Such an attitude makes no sense whatsoever.
I think the parliamentary secretary should apologize for accusing the opposition parties of providing inaccurate information. If he thinks he knows the truth, well, he is the only one. It is like the marching soldier who thinks he is the only one in step.