Mr. Chair, I was not at committee so I cannot comment on what went on. I am certain that everybody can read the transcript if they want to know what happened.
However, I am sure cooler heads will prevail. As I said in my opening statements, everyone here has the best interests of farmers at heart. We may disagree on how we deliver those programs but at the end of the day we all know it needs to be done. The changes to the FIMCLA and bringing it up to date are very important.
Agriculture is a capital-intensive business. We all recognize the fact that most farmers out there are approaching retirement age and are looking to move their enterprise on to a son, daughter, daughter-in-law, son-in-law or a neighbour for that matter but they need access to credit to do that. The new proposal is all about modernizing that particular act to trigger roughly another billion dollars over the next few years so that beginning farmers can actually have a chance to take over dad's farm like I was able to do.
My son will not have that opportunity because of the changes that I have made in my life. He has gone on to work in the oil patch. This is such a capital-intensive business that he will not get his opportunity. We are saddened by that because he would have been the fifth generation farming and that would have been fantastic to see. However, we have gotten beyond that but we are here to help other people to have those opportunities.
I am quite excited by the changes that we have made. Beginning farmers will have access to some $500,000, which is double what they used to have, with a 10% down payment rather than 20%. That loan, being backstopped by the federal government, will be at a preferred rate. We will ensure that the banks, credit unions and so on acknowledge that and work fairly with farmers when it comes to those loans.
I am quite excited by it and I think the members opposite will come to grips with that too. We did have an example earlier about moneys going into a cooperative type of situation. I think it is time to reinvent that so we can get on top of some of these input costs and so on.