Mr. Chair, I understand. I was just going to say that I had said on the record that I recognized live cattle were not getting into the industry.
The member opposite tried to make the point in a broad sense that the government is not living up to its responsibilities. The member is wrong.
We have a lot to be proud of as a government. We made the hard decisions in 1995, as a party and as a government under the previous prime minister. The current Prime Minister was minister of finance at the time. It is because we made those hard decisions that we are at the top of the G-8. We have had seven surplus budgets so we have the money to deal with child care, the health accord, which was just announced, and quite a number of programs. I do not need to get into them at this late hour.
The government has a lot of which to be proud. Yes, we have trouble in the agricultural industry. We have admitted that. Yes, the BSE is causing us lots of problems, but the leader of the official opposition said the other night that the bottom line was that the border was closed and that was causing the problem. Yes, it is what caused the problem
If we go back to the record, and I will not get into the points, it will show the number of programs we have implemented. It will show the September 10 announcement by the minister. It will show that the Prime Minister and the minister are overseas constantly trying to find new markets.
We are doing our bit, but that is not to lessen the impact on the finances of the farmers. I recognize there is a problem there. They are my neighbours. I have been there myself. I know what it is like to be in financial difficulty and to worry about losing one's farm. We do not want to see them in that situation. We are acting on it, we are acting responsibly and we are doing all we can. If suggestions come out of this take note debate, then we are certainly willing to consider them.