Mr. Speaker, I agree readily with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food that farmers are having a very difficult time right now. Debt loads are high. The mad cow crisis is causing similar problems for both dairy producers with cull cows and cattle producers.
There are also problems for young people going into farming. A few weeks ago, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois and I met with about fifteen young students at the Institut de technologie agricole de La Pocatière. They told us about the major problems they see for the future and the difficulties dedicating their lives to this industry. What they find most frustrating is that these problems are occurring at a time when the federal government will have a $7 billion surplus for this fiscal year. These young people had great difficulty understanding this. One of them was extremely frustrated and upset.
Some $100 million was wasted on sponsorships. I want to ask the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food if he would not have preferred to see this $100 million allocated according to needs and the demand for programs for suffering farmers. The same is true of the millions that went into the extremely poorly managed firearms program.
The minister says that we must move beyond this motion and move forward. To do that, should trust not be earned and should this government not change its current behaviour? Ultimately, people get the impression that they are paying taxes, that they are not getting a return for their money and that money is being spent on futile things so that friends of the system can put money in their pockets, while groups need this money to survive a crisis. The money is not there, and they are told there is none, when there will be a $7 billion surplus.
What can the minister tell us about this to restore confidence and ensure that we can all work together?