Yes, just one point. It's something that really does concern me, as one who has lived a considerable amount of life and has had a lot of life experiences, particularly in agriculture.
We're given constantly to understand that there's a program that is going to return to us some sort of net benefit. Here we have another situation where farmers are in anticipation now, where the guy who sells 5,000 tonnes of barley or wheat or whatever thinks he is going to realize another $10,000. Well, I'm not a prophet, but I can pretty much assure them that they probably will never realize that $10,000 benefit.
I guess as a farmer I would have to wonder how I could be assured that two railway companies sitting down with Transport Canada would negotiate the best deal for me. I realize you're business people and you need to make a profit--I understand that principle. I understand Transport Canada is trying to get a good deal. But without a representative of the farm community or those particular shippers or the people who are the beneficiaries of your system--as you have so eloquently said this morning--how can they be assured that the best deal's going to be struck in the long term, given that, as I see it this morning, 25 years from now very few cars will be owned by the government, if any? It then becomes a system that is controlled and owned by two rail companies, perhaps, or maybe one by then--I don't know; I can't predict that far.
What kind of assurance can you give this group this morning, and the listening audience and those out there who will be reading the blues tomorrow, that the best interest of farmers is always first and foremost for both you and the Department of Transport?