Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is absolutely right that farmers indeed do not like the subsidies, but there is a unique need here, as he has pointed out. To keep the farm industry viable, subsidies will be forthcoming and they should be sufficient to keep the industry alive.
Many from the farm community that I was born and raised in have a real problem, as do I, with the way government does business, even when there is a unique need in front of it. There is a real lack of trust. Farmers see the scandal on the other side of the coin with money being thrown out and used to feather the nests of friends and business acquaintances of the government, and they have questions about where they fit in as hard-working, honest, tax paying people. They zero in on the politicians.
Let us look at the Auditor General's report on the sponsorship scandal. She found that payments were made “using false invoices and contracts or no written contracts at all”, apparently in order “to provide commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funds and the true nature of the transactions”.
There is not an honest, hard-working taxpayer who is not going to look at that and question the government's motives. There is not a farmer around who is not going to look at that and say--