Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her address. She made some very relevant comments.
She spoke of the profound impact that these high prices have, often on old stock, on low income families, people who deliver into rural regions, taxi drivers, and others who are affected by the high price of energy.
It is literally a catastrophe, when we know that from 1989 through to 2004, the latest figures from Statistics Canada, 60% of Canadian families are poorer now than they were then. What we have seen are repeated failures on economic policy and money that is continually being sucked to the wealthy. As well, while we see these record levels of profits from the petroleum companies, we are seeing lower corporate taxes.
My question for the member is the following. She has spoken very eloquently about the impact. We know this week that those who have been perhaps most profoundly impacted by this are from Alberta. The income of Alberta farmers has plunged 50% in the past year, in fact more steeply than any other province. Yet, not a single one of the 28 Alberta members of the Conservative Party has stood up to defend Alberta farmers, even though many of those farmers have supported Alberta Conservatives in the past.
When Alberta farmers have been most dramatically impacted by this, why is the government doing nothing? Why is it ignoring Alberta farmers? Why is it leaving those Alberta farmers to hang by themselves?