November 23, 1984 (33rd Parliament, 1st Session)

Mr. Boudria:

Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief in my question to the Minister. It concerns agricultural issues in eastern Ontario.
Could he enlighten us about the state of the new Canada-Ontario agreement which I understand is under negotiation between himself and his colleagues in the Ontario Government? The previous agreement expired earlier this year and it had serious repercussions on improvements in the area of tile drainage for farm land in eastern Ontario.
The Minister has just related the cordial state of relations between himself and Mr. Timbrell of Ontario. Perhaps he could explain to the House the status of the new Canada-Ontario development agreement. Has the subsidiary agreement for agriculture been signed yet? What is the status of those projects?
If and when the agreement is signed, will it include a component to improve farm drainage? In eastern Ontario, I believe that the key to improvements in agriculture is the improvement in tile drainage. That is really the only way that we can become competitive with farmers in other parts of the province and the country.
The Minister, being an Ontario farmer himself, will be knowledgeable about this issue and perhaps he could enlighten the House as to the progress in this respect.