Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his concern. The same concern exists on this side of the House. We certainly have been moving forward beyond the CAIS program with other measures to try, as I said a moment ago, to assist the livestock industry in its time of need. But on this kind of programming, the federal government just cannot act on its own either.
We have discussed the issue at the federal and provincial ministers of agriculture meeting. I would point out that at that meeting of the federal and provincial ministers of agriculture in September, we did agree, as I said a moment ago, to extend the simplified one-third deposit to the 2004 CAIS program year and to extend the deadline by which deposits must be made for 2003 and 2004 program years to March 31, 2005. I want to spell that out clearly for the record.
This means that producers in all provinces, except Prince Edward Island and Ontario, do not have to make their deposit until next year.
As members may already know, industry has recommended the elimination of the deposit requirement under CAIS and ministers have agreed to look at alternative program mechanisms that better support active risk management by producers. Officials have certainly started that work.
I should point out that, contrary to what the member opposite says, CAIS and the federal investment of $488 million announced in September to assist Canada's livestock industry in repositioning itself are not the only government initiatives to help the industry manage through this difficult time.
In June 2003 governments announced $520 million for the BSE recovery program. In November 2003 the Government of Canada provided $120 million for the cull animal program. It did not stop there. In March of this year, there was an additional $930 million for the transitional industry support program.
I think it is safe to say that this government has not only been helping industry through this difficult time, we have been there every step of the way, and we will continue to be. That shows through the minister's answers in the House today. We are there looking at other programming and we will stand and continue to stand by producers in their time of need.