Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being with us.
You talked earlier about other farmers across the country, as you have done very often in the past. Being on the agriculture committee, I've heard you say that often. I think you know—and I'm sure you'll confirm this for us—that in the case of Ontario, when it came to wheat farmers, they actually did make the decision. The government didn't make the decision; it was farmers who made the final decision, because they voted to decide what they wanted to do, which I think is ultimately right.
If you check Hansard, which I'm sure your staff did, you will see that during the debate on this particular motion, I said that we should debate and agree on the question, and put it to the prairie farmers and ask them what they want, just as we did in Ontario. What I said in the House, as I pointed to my colleagues across the way, was that if they were right, we would sit down; but that if we were right, then they should sit down. I said that because the folks we are ultimately affecting are those farmers we've been talking about, who include some of my colleagues across the way. That's understood—and, Minister, I know you are as well.
What we're really saying is that if it was good enough for Ontario farmers to vote, then let's find the question and put it to farmers on the Prairies and say to them, “What do you want to do?”
I've heard you talk about not liking the plebiscite, and that's okay. I'd remind everybody that you can find dead folks on Elections Canada's list as well, by the way, and a few other folks every now and again. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I think we all know that. All of us have come through this process. We find folks who are no longer with us on lists all over the place. Lists are not the greatest piece; they're simply not the greatest things.
So I ask you specifically, if it was good enough for Ontario farmers to vote and decide for themselves, why can't we find a way to come up with the right question and then put it to prairie farmers and say we'll abide by their decision as prairie farmers?