Mr. Speaker, the member's question clearly indicates one of the serious problems within the province. We have an agriculture industry that has been absolutely devastated. We have the federal government that puts in place a CAIS program which does nothing to address the serious problems within the province.
The CAIS program is a bureaucratic nightmare. The farmers and agricultural producers who are trying to struggle to get enough money to put in another crop or to get over the border closure and the crisis in the beef industry that the BSE issue has triggered are looking for assistance. Yet, that assistance could be right within the province if the equalization formula was fixed. It should be absolutely obvious that we get the resource revenues that our province deserves.
The agriculture industry cannot survive if we do not get programs that work for agriculture and proper funding for those programs. Within the province the agriculture programs are not being properly funded. The CAIS program that has been put in place by the federal government does not do what it is supposed to do. Not a day goes by when I do not receive many phone calls from frustrated farmers who do not understand why the finance minister and the federal government are trying to kill the agriculture industry in the province.
Many people do not see the connect between fixing the equalization formula and the help that we need for our basic agricultural producers in the province. That is one of the key points I was trying to make in my speech. We want fairness for the province. We want something that is going to work. People at home are sitting in agonizing pain as we speak here. They wonder what is going on in Ottawa, what is going on in Parliament, and why the government cannot see the obvious that Saskatchewan should be treated with fairness.
When we look out at the acres of land and all the potential in that province, there is no reason we should be moving from a have to a have not province, back and forth. We have the ability in the province and the federal government has removed the incentive for us to develop.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak up on behalf of my constituents today. Discrepancies within this equalization program are so obvious. The Prime Minister has not allowed the province to reap its benefits. It is a travesty. I appreciate the opportunity that the Conservative Party today has given me to raise these issues.