Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. I would say that the basic philosophy of the roughly 80,000 farmers who belong to the Grain Growers is that the government does not owe farmers a living. You know what? We have to go out there as farmers and make business decisions and operate.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, honourable members, and fellow guests. I will be sharing my time with Sheri, who's sitting next to me. My name is Richard Phillips. I am a farmer and I'm with the Grain Growers of Canada. With me today, from one of the member organizations of Grain Growers of Canada, is Sheri Strydhorst.

Finance committee  Looking ahead, there are a number of key areas in which Canadian farmers and consumers want work done, including traits such as drought tolerance on the southern prairies; cold tolerance in the northern prairies and the corn belts; and disease resistance. I'm sure some of you have heard of Ug99, a rust that's threatening the world's wheat supply, and fusarium, which affects a lot of wheat across Canada, primarily in Ontario and Atlantic Canada and the Red River Valley.

Agriculture committee  We're talking primarily about the A-base, the core research dollars, and it's our understanding that it's been frozen for a number of years, going back even maybe to the previous government. Simply inflation alone means a reduction of them. That's why you see a drop from 28 down to 5.

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry, Mr. Wilton, could I have a copy of your presentation today? Thank you.

Agriculture committee  It was an expert panel composed of one farmer from Alberta, one from Saskatchewan, and one from Manitoba. They went out and held hearings across the Prairies and they received letters and input. Out of that, they met and worked out these panels. We'd be happy to share that with the entire committee.

Agriculture committee  After every election, when the farmers are voting and electing the directors, there are always disputes, from the pro-Wheat Board people who say this wasn't fair or from the anti-Wheat Board people who say this part of it wasn't fair. An expert panel was put together about three years ago that did a review of this, and it came out with some very good recommendations on how to clean up some of these disputes.

Agriculture committee  No, we're not contesting that at all. What we're saying is let's have it clean, so that everybody agrees in advance that these are the rules, and then whoever wins, wins. We're looking for a clean, fair election process, as is the Wheat Board. Maybe Mr. Hill can comment, but I believe we're on the same page on this issue.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I will speak more slowly, because I'm from Saskatchewan, where we're still debating whether the extra hour of daylight with daylight saving time will hurt our crops. My name is Richard Phillips. I am from Tisdale, Saskatchewan. I'm employed by the Grain Growers of Canada.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, we'll be sharing our time as well.

Agriculture committee  Sure. I think as farmers we have to be more active as well. I know in Ontario you have the AGCare group, which is a broad coalition of them. I think as farmers we tend to get busy just farming. Sometimes you're just so busy running your own business and looking after your own operation and families and everything else that goes into it that we don't look to see where public opinion is going.

Agriculture committee  Just very briefly, I know one concern within the Ag Canada researchers is that there's been a move to push them to say you should only be researching things that can be commercially viable. Maybe there needs to be a split, where you're working on bioproducts or the value-added end of things, but you also go back to what Doug said: there has to be enough focus on the core agronomics, whether it's the Quebec wheat farmers, who have a fusarium issue, or the Atlantic farmers or the Prairie farmers.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. First of all, I was out making some maple syrup on the weekend. It's very fine Ontario maple syrup, so it's not just in Quebec. We produce a lot of products even for the domestic market. We've seen a huge growth, especially around the urban centres, with people wanting the hundred mile circles and so on.

Agriculture committee  I would actually say that if you were to send the signal that you were stalling or delaying.... I'm an investor in EnSask, and we're out there trying to raise money from shareholders. If there were a splash of cold water put on from the government right now, I think it would make it very hard for us to continue fundraising for our producer-owned facilities.

Agriculture committee  I think it will provide a much stronger floor base underneath. This is what you'll see happening. Beyond that, I want to talk about the income back to the farmers. Brian mentioned 2 million to 2.5 million tonnes of canola being used. We're paying $40 to $50 a tonne for freight to ocean.