You'd have to ask the minister why he chose to only choose barley producers for a plebiscite. I agree with you there is no need to deregulate the single-desk monopoly to address any concerns I have heard. No concerns have warranted deregulating single-desk monopoly. They could all be addressed within the single-desk monopoly. Again, it's an information issue. Farmers need to know this. Farmers need to know what could be done and what's available to do without deregulating the single-desk monopoly. Should we then still deregulate it or should we address the problems within the single-desk monopoly? And again, it's a partnership issue. We have a government that has expressed recently and a long time ago that they want to be partners with producers. I believe they can show real leadership, one that farmers would appreciate, if they said, “Yes, let's have a good discussion, put the information out there, and let's let the farmers decide.”
On November 2nd, 2006. See this statement in context.