Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to follow up on some of the comments that have been made about the statistics. We throw around percentages, and we need to have some hard facts. If you start looking at the United States or the Ontario situation and do a comparison, maybe on a percentage basis of growth, it's not there because it's already a mature industry. If you look right now, Saskatchewan is only processing 5% of their coarse grains--only 5%. Compare that to Ontario, which is 117%. That means they're bringing in grain. It's a very immature industry, they're processing everything and then some. We have to put the numbers in perspective, Mr. Chair.
I asked our research team to coordinate the information coming in and fill in the holes when we compare it to other regions outside the Wheat Board area. I'm also surprised that Alex made the comment that minority rights don't matter. He's pretty much saying the majority should rule over the minority, and I think that's contrary to NDP philosophy, so I'm rather shocked by that.
I want to come back. Minister Wowchuk, you're talking about having a plebiscite in Manitoba. The Government of Canada has never said we're opposed to a plebiscite. Right now you guys are jumping ahead, you're trying to run out the door and you forgot to open the door. You're banging your heads now because we aren't at the point yet to know where we're at with the decision on moving ahead on the marketing choice, and what the question might look like. You guys are getting ahead of yourselves, so we have to take a step back.
You did mention you want to go ahead with the plebiscite in Manitoba. Do you believe that all agricultural policy in Manitoba should be decided by a plebiscite?