Mr. Speaker, the producers in Palliser and the people in Saskatchewan certainly appreciated the minister coming to Saskatchewan and making that announcement in September. Yes, the prices seem to be stabilizing and improving, as it looks like our border will open. We pray that it is going to happen on March 7.
I do hasten to point out to the minister that eligibility for disaster relief in terms of the BSE crisis was conditional on participation in CAIS. So our producers were asked to pony up the dough in order to get disaster relief, which I am sure the minister will recognize does not happen in terms of individuals who are so unfortunate as to suffer a flood, for instance. We do not ask people who suffer a flood to pony up dough for flood relief. Why do we ask this of our producers? They have made some good points, but that is absolutely bizarre.
Before coming to the House today, I spoke to a gentleman who does not know how he is going to afford seed or buy fertilizer and spray. For the first time we are seeing people financing parts through Farm Credit Corporation. This producer says that for the first time we are financing parts.
The Minister of Agriculture needs to do the right thing. Help our producers out. Cancel or waive the deposit. It is the right thing to do. Our producers would commend the minister for it. It is high time that he took a stand here and did the right thing.