Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to listen to the debate that is going on today. The last comment made by my colleague is also very interesting because the budget for that department is even less than that for the gun registry. That is an indication that the gun registry is spending much more money than was first planned.
It is my pleasure to speak to the bill today, which calls for the creation of a national committee to oversee programs in the case of agricultural losses, disasters or market conditions. It is quite evident, however, that the current government is either not listening to farmers or is indifferent to their plight. With net farm income in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba hitting record lows and input costs rising day by day, it is appalling to see how the government has brushed aside the Canadian farmer.
In committee today we listened to three agriculture ministers from the prairie provinces. Input costs have risen dramatically. The farm crisis in those provinces is deepening. Farm income has gone up in other provinces, but the grain producing provinces are still in crisis. A 15% rise in interest costs alone last year indicates that farmers are borrowing more money just to try to stay afloat. There has been a 35% increase in fuel costs. Farmers find this devastating.
The bottom line in all of this is that in my home province of Saskatchewan the average farm income is less than $7,000. We were talking about salaries in the House today, but let us take a look at what many thousands of people who produce food for the country have to exist on. That is something we need to address and need to address urgently.
It was clearly demonstrated on March 20 when we in the Canadian Alliance put forward a motion calling upon the government to give an additional $400 million in emergency assistance to Canadian farmers. The motion was voted down by the government side, by the way. If the government had been listening to farmers and farm groups, it would have known that the $500 million it put on the table was not enough.
Instead the government has said that programs like AIDA would help farmers get through their financial crunch, but with red tape entangling every farmer who applies it has become more of a hindrance than a help. There are horror stories of farmers who applied and were assured that they would get money, so they borrowed money from their banks because they were told it was bankable. Then months later they were asked to repay the amount. Farmers do not have money to do that.
The horror stories are terrible. I wish government members would go to my constituency, answer the phone sometime and listen to what farmers have to contend with as they apply for some of this government assistance.
It is extremely important for the government to receive information on how effective current safety net programs are and to take advice on how to improve the delivery of necessary financing for our farm families. We have a committee in place that is called the national safety net advisory committee. The problem is not a lack in the committee or lack of advice. The problem is the minister of agriculture and the governing Liberals in general who ignore the advice they have received.
In committee this morning we heard again that all kinds of studies have been done on the farm situation. We heard about the Estey report and the Kroeger report. The results are virtually ignored. There is no point in having all these studies and there is no point in setting up committees if the government does not follow up and do something about this issue.
Let me give more examples. Farm groups have shown consistently that the current AIDA program has failed to address the needs of grain and oilseeds producers. The government has ignored this fact. I have received letters and phone calls from disgruntled farmers who are trying to get through the red tape that is called AIDA. Some farmers are still waiting for their 1999 claim. That is two years after the fact. Those who have qualified are at times waiting for their cheques after receiving notification that they will be receiving the money.
Farm groups thought if they could give advice on how to improve AIDA, the government might listen, but the government has not. Agricultural producers said again and again that a minimum of $900 million was needed just to cover the losses they incurred in 2000, but our Prime Minister allowed only $500 million to be given out. Farm rallies and producer delegations have come to Ottawa and have all said time and time again that the $500 million was not close to enough.
The problem is quite evident. The government refuses to listen even to a committee of its own creation. Our party has done what the government has refused to do.
I appreciate what my colleague on the government side said about the agriculture committee. Yes, we try to work together with government, we try to point out what is necessary for it to do, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.
Last year the Canadian Alliance went out to farmers and asked them what they would like to see the government implement. Farmers told us that assistance should be given out on time and should be targeted to those who need help the most and that any type of farm assistance program must be improved to provide long term stability to farmers instead of constantly created ad hoc programs.
Those farmers came before the committee. They gave reasonable solutions to the crisis we are facing in agriculture, but nothing happened. That is what Canadian producers have told us. That is what they have been telling the national safety net advisory committee, but the minister of agriculture and his colleagues on the government side refused to listen. Would the creation of a new committee cause the government to listen when already it does not listen to a committee of the same nature? That is highly doubtful.
I support the motion. I would do anything to try to help out our agriculture producers, but I do not know that another committee is going to really do it.
It seems that the government side must be hard of hearing. It seems to turn a blind eye to an industry that employs 1.7 million Canadians, has exports that total $27.6 billion and contributes $13.6 billion to our gross domestic product. It is just unfathomable that the government would ignore this kind of industry. It seems that the voice of the farmer no longer matters to the government. I would ask the government to start listening and to spend more time with farmers.
In the coming months we may have a drought like we have not seen for over 130 years. If the no rain situation continues in Alberta and western Saskatchewan, we will have a crisis that will be even more severe and will have more dimensions to it.
What will the government do when the cattle are being shipped in order to find better pasture land? What will the government do when the water levels drop to dangerously low levels? Will the government begin to listen when it is too late? Will it perk up its ears and start to lend an ear to agriculture producers?
All I ask is that the government listen, not just to me but to producers. I ask the government to listen to their problems. I ask the government to listen to their advice and use it to help them in troubled times.
This morning we had three ministers of different political stripes before the committee, three ministers who agree that something has to be done. When we have a problem of this dimension on the prairies, we must take it seriously. When the cutbacks were made in 1993 the prairie provinces were expected to take a much greater hit. That is one thing that all the ministers before the committee this morning agreed on. They agreed that they were treated differently, that they had taken a much greater hit than the rest of the agricultural sector. Would we then conclude that the government, by cutting back in these areas and not allowing enough time for the change has actually, created the crisis in western Canada?
I will give an example. The Crow rate was a transportation subsidy that western Canadian farmers had for almost a century. It was suddenly removed. We said at that time that 90% of that money should be taken and rolled into a program that would compensate them for the adverse effects that they received from other parts. That did not happen. If that would have happened at that point, we would have had enough money accumulated now to deal with this crisis because, as was explained in committee today, this crisis has come about because of the farm support programs in other countries.
I could go on and on, however if we need another committee and if that committee is going to help, I will support it. However, the bottom line is we have to make sure that whatever happens, farmers are listened to and their needs are addressed.
