MEDIA ADVISORY

Date: April 5th, 2006

For release: Immediate

STECKLE SPEAKS ON AGRICULTURE IN FIRST

QUESTION PERIOD OF THE 39 TH PARLIAMENT

OTTAWA – Paul Steckle, Member of Parliament for Huron-Bruce and Associate Liberal Agriculture Critic, today offered the following remarks in the first Question Period of the 39 th Parliament of Canada.

“… Yesterdays Throne Speech, outlining the government’s priorities, contained 2449 words. Agriculture, Canada’s second largest industry, was allocated a meagre 72.

That constitutes a paltry 3% of the government’s focus and that level was only attained when pooled with Aquaculture.

Clearly, 3% is unacceptable. Agriculture was already excluded from the Prime Minister’s five top priorities list and now it has been relegated to less than 3% of the total agenda.

Our farmers are in dire straits and they need our help. To survive, farmers need more than 3% of this government’s attention.

Regardless of the amount of ink used in the Throne Speech, farmers are here in Ottawa today to tell their government that the ink they see is red.

They are asking for a public investment in food security, risk management programmes that protect against income loss but most of all they are asking this government to give to farmers what farmers give to Canadians each and every day – 100%”

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For further information contact:

Greg McClinchey, Executive Assistant to Paul Steckle, M.P., Huron-Bruce

(613) 995-9848 or steckp0@parl.gc.ca