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Mr. Douglas Hedley: —behind that, if I may, let me recall that our long-term safety net agreement with provinces, which we have had since the early to mid-1990s, was running out. Indeed, it is currently expected to run out at the end of March 2000. When we put it in place, what we said to do was to put it in place to run through that period of time and then have a look at what package we need for the longer term federally, provincially, with farmers, as we renew the five- or seven-year agreement on safety nets. That's in part the rationale for why it was put in for two years.
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