Thank you very much.
I want to take a couple of minutes as well.
We talk about the Canadian Wheat Board as if there's some great monster out there. The Canadian Wheat Board is the producers. It is the producers who are the monopoly, and they are the ones who benefit from the Canadian Wheat Board.
Why do people want this changed? I'm not sure. People have not stated clearly why they want the Wheat Board to change, they have not stated clearly why they will not allow the producers to have a plebiscite, and that's a very serious concern. The legislation says producers should have the right to a vote if there is a major change, and the federal government is ignoring that, as if they have the mandate to make changes, which in reality they do not.
Who will benefit from this? Just as Minister Wartman has said, if we make these changes, it is the grain companies that are going to benefit. And there is proof. People will say there is no proof. There have been studies done, showing us that indeed the premiums the Wheat Board captures bring more money into our prairie provinces and give a greater return for our producers.
If we lose the Wheat Board, the issue will be back concerning how we are going to keep the farmers' revenue up. It is going to be governments paying out through farm aid programs, through CAIS. As a farmer, I would much rather get my income from the marketplace. That is what we want to do, and the Wheat Board has served people well here.
I also want to say that I would have to disagree with Minister Horner and agree with Minister Wartman that the fallacy of value-added not growing is not true. Through the 1990s, malting capacity increased by 75%, by almost half a million tonnes, with the majority of the growth occurring in the Prairies. Over a 10-year period malt exports doubled. Wheat milling capacity has increased 28%, compared to only 14% across the border, where they have this free market system. A third of our major milling capacity is on the Prairies, while only 17% of U.S. milling capacity is located in U.S. communities right across the border.
So to say that Wheat Board does not allow for value-added is in fact misleading.