Madam Chair, I listened with great interest to the minister as he outlined some of the programs and projects that our government is implementing.
I come from a riding that has a strong agricultural base. It is quite diverse; there is everything from cow-calf operations to canola, wheat, and coarse grain operations. There is a wide variety of different farming endeavours.
I was invited by a number of farmers to a meeting a short time ago. I went there with some concern as to what I might hear. I was pleasantly surprised by their remarks about some of the changes that have been made in the last three years to some of the farm programs. In fact, I will not forget one of the comments that was made, which is that the programs have never been this good since the days of John Diefenbaker. I would like to pass that on to the minister.
There is a question that farmers want me to ask the minister. He touched on it in the last part of his remarks, but I would like him to elaborate on it. They are concerned about the protectionist tendencies in the United States. They really do not want to depend on farm programs, even though they have been improved. They would like to know what other endeavours the minister is engaged in and what these mean to the farmers' bottom line.
My question is really twofold. What is being done to continue to ensure we have access to markets in the United States? What is the minister doing other than that to ensure that our farmers can get more returns from the marketplace?