Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that excellent question.
Earlier, I gave examples of what is happening in my riding. There is a problem at the grassroots level. My colleague said it well: is the government listening? No, it is not listening. It may be hearing, but it is not listening. What people say goes in one ear and out the other. Perhaps that is what is happening at present.
What are farmers telling me? First, the process they have to go through to get a little help from the federal government is far too complicated for the money they get in the end. Often, they pay more in accounting fees than they get at year end.
That is s serious problem. It means that the government's program has a structural problem. That is the first thing.
Farmers wonder why they should submit an application. They say that it has become pointless. They waste their time filling out forms and paying people and in the end they get peanuts, like the 26¢ a head I mentioned earlier. So why submit an application? They get discouraged and give up. The federal government winds up keeping that money and does not invest it in farmers or people who need it.
Second, our farmers are saying that they can no longer survive. They are giving up farming and going into something else. Yet we need these people. That is the reality today.
The government just said that it is listening to farmers. How can it say it is listening to farmers when these people are getting 26¢ a head? The government members should sit down with the people in my riding and ask them whether they agree with the program and the money they get from the federal government.
The parliamentary secretary would be surprised to hear the opposite of what he said earlier, when he mentioned that he and the minister had met with farmers. He would be in for a big surprise in my riding. I invite them to take the time to come and meet with the farmers in my riding, and then they can tell me whether 26¢ a head is reasonable.