Agriculture committee  I raised the issue of Churchill because I believe that without the Wheat Board, Churchill will be devastated. Ultimately, it's about getting the farmers the best return for their product, and the sales through the Port of Churchill certainly help the producers of that catchment a

Agriculture committee  If you listened to producers, Mr. Bezan, producers across the country have been calling on your government to give them a plebiscite. We have clearly said we want the federal government to call a plebiscite with a true, meaningful question. If you won't put that question to the p

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chair, I will tell Mr. Bezan that he's part of government. Producers are asking for changes to CAIS, but what producers are asking for are true changes to CAIS. What you are proposing now are not true changes. They are changes that were made under the Liberals, Mr. Chair. Tru

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chairman, if I could add to this, first of all Mr. Bezan is inaccurate when he says the federal government is trying to make changes to CAIS but the provinces won't. The federal government wants to change the name of CAIS. I'm not prepared to change the name of CAIS if there

Agriculture committee  You asked whether the Wheat Board could continue to operate in a free market system. I don't think so—not in the system we have right now, without control of any assets. The Australian Wheat Board had to make some adjustments, but they have assets. Our Wheat Board does not have a

Agriculture committee  I think the Wheat Board has made many changes in order to accommodate value-added. Our producers were looking at how they could be exporters, and I think all of us as provincial governments have changed our direction, and we want to see more value-added going on. The Wheat Board

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. You started out talking about supply management and the Wheat Board and the WTO. I think it's very foolish on our part, at a time when other countries are looking to dismantle our orderly marketing system, that we would say, oh, we're just going to give it u

Agriculture committee  No, no. I don't want your notes.

Agriculture committee  I will not let Doug speak for me. It's about producers having a say; that's what this is about. Producers want to have a say about whether or not they dismantle. I think the question that we put forward is very important. If we say, do you want choice, everybody will say, oh yes

Agriculture committee  Our budget will be minimal. I can tell you we will not be spending anything like the $1 million that was spent in Alberta over four years. We anticipate that this will cost less than $2 per voter. We haven't got the details.

Agriculture committee  Close to 8,000.

Agriculture committee  There are about 8,000 wheat and barley producers in Manitoba.

Agriculture committee  Alberta had a plebiscite. What I'm looking for is a national plebiscite for producers across the country.

Agriculture committee  Alberta's question was not the one I would ask.

Agriculture committee  Alberta has the ability to hold a plebiscite, just as we will. But we will form a more unbiased question.