Mr. Speaker, as a Conservative Party member, one certainly needs to respond to some of those spurious allegations across the way from the former agriculture minister. Maybe that is why he is no longer in that role. He needs to get his facts straight on a few things because we do have some very concrete proposals and policies.
We are in support of supply management. We think we can actually strengthen the Wheat Board, or at least make the provision for it to be strengthened by way of our approach on this whole matter.
We do need income support programs for farmers. Our party does support the use of safety net programs to assist producers struggling with conditions outside their control. For things they do not have any control over at all, we certainly want to stand by them in those times of need.
We would have those measures in place to assist people across our country, whatever agriculture production capacity they are in, but in a way that it would not distort trade. It would need to be consistent with Canada's international trading obligations. We have something very specific. The members across the way should be here to take careful notes so they do not make those false allegations in the future.
In respect of the Canadian Wheat Board, we have said that we are on the side of farmers. We want to support farmers. We want to have a strong Wheat Board but our priority obviously in all of this is for the good of farmers.
A Conservative government would give farmers the freedom of choice to make their own marketing and transportation decisions and also to direct, to structure and to voluntarily involve themselves in those producer organizations. That is for the good of farmers and it can be for the good of the Canadian Wheat Board as well, as they adjust, as they flex, as they are in sync with the various things in our international markets.
In respect to supply management, we have said, going back to our former Canadian Alliance days, those of us from that particular side, but confirm these days as the new Conservative Party, that we believe it is in the very best interests of Canada and Canadian agriculture that the industries under the protection of supply management remain viable. A Conservative government would support the goal of supply management to deliver a high quality product to consumers for a fair price with a reasonable return to the producers.
Reading that particular statement, without question, we have no problems with support of supply. In fact it is very crucial. These are the only farmers, in my neck of the woods, in my constituency, who do not have some of the other pressing issues that agricultural producers have had in the last number of years. However they are in hard times now because of the BSE crisis.
I want to interject, Mr. Speaker, to say that I want to split my time with the member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands.
The Minister of Agriculture mentioned that we have to go beyond the motion today. We agree with that and are quite prepared to do that as the new Conservative Party with some very specific and concrete proposals. They are very explicit, not like some of the nebulous stuff that there is which is not helpful in the long term to farmers, at least not when they have to hire accountants and lawyers to figure out how to fill out the forms for the various programs that are dreamed up by the government.
Without question we must go beyond this. This is the starting point but we certainly need a government in place that would reallocate the resources and get away from the wasteful and unnecessary programs, and all the spending. We need to get away from the scams that we have had in Quebec, the sponsorship scandals, the billion dollar HRDC boondoggle, the almost $2 billion and mounting gun registry, and so on. We need to get away from that waste so that we can address the agricultural crisis at the farm gate with specific and concrete proposals and specific dollar amounts. I want to spend my remaining time by addressing them very specifically.
It has been unveiled and is on the public record, our commitment, our word, upon forming a government in 2004. The Conservative Party of Canada has very specific and concrete good news for farmers. It would be an improvement of things for them, if we were given the mandate to implement the Conservative Party plan of action for agriculture.
In the short term at least $900 million would need to come in by way of topping up the 2002 Canadian farm income program from the current 60% right up to payouts to the full 100% coverage. It would take approximately $75 million, I understand from the calculations, for that to occur.
There is the matter of increasing the processing capacity for mature cattle as well as all other livestock sectors. There is about another $75 million calculated for that. There is also the mature livestock rationalization program estimated to be about $400 million. These are the specific figures as asked for by the members across the way. We are quite prepared to put them on the record today.
Then there is the Canadian agriculture income support program or CAIS as it is becoming known in common jargon. I talked to an accountant last week and he has concerns with many of these programs, and with this one to a certain degree as well.
A number of good heads have to get together, accountants and all the farm players have to get together to figure these programs out. Accountants get involved. They are very complicated programs.
There would need to be the top up of the CAIS program for BSE affected farm operations. That would take about $300 million. That is no insignificant sum of dollars that would need to be put into that. It is a very difficult time for those affected by a somewhat inadequate handling of this crisis by the present government through not looking down the road such that we could head off this thing by international protocols that were followed in our country.
We need to provide interest free cash advances of approximately $25 million. An advance on calf value aimed at cow-calf operators would be helpful to beef operators back in the Saskatoon—Wanuskewin constituency and all across the country.
We need to provide confidence to the lending institutions so that when farmers walk in and have particular needs they can know that they are backstopped by the Government of Canada, a Conservative government, that is supporting producers in respect to cashflow. We need to provide interest free loan guarantees for backgrounders and feedlot operators of some $25 million.
There will be more in future days, but these are specific concrete proposals that we are not shy to put on the record, in contrast to the rather nebulous plans of the government on the opposite side.
I think the minister is quite right. The beginning point is to stop the waste, stop the scandalous squander of dollars that has been occurring on the gun registry, the sponsorship scam, HRDC, and on and on it goes. There are probably more things that will turn up in the days ahead. We need to stop that and begin to redirect and get the priorities right, and focus in the particular way that we have talked about here. It is on the record. Members of the government can analyze it and do the calculations.
My question for the minister and those opposite today would be, are they prepared to live up to that? Can they deliver that kind of a program with specific concrete proposals? We would urge them to make that kind of commitment to farm families across the country.
That is our plan of action as a new Conservative government in 2004. That is what we would do for agriculture producers. It is how we would stand with them in the days ahead.