I'm quite concerned that people know what's been going on and how dissent has been dealt with in the past, especially with the Liberal leader saying yesterday that it didn't really matter what the question was or what the farmers decided, he was going to reinstitute the past system.
If you actually look at the editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press today, you'll see that they talk about how it is really political pandering. I guess we could talk about it, but the editorial is called “Pandering for votes”. In the interest of speeding up my presentation, Mr. Chair, I won't read it.
This is academic to some people in the room, but when we as western farmers hear about Liberals putting things in place whether farmers want them or not, it puts fear into the hearts of western Canadian farmers. It makes good sense to go back, but before we go back, we should hear from someone who has been there.
The real crux of the question around this issue is a question that someone asked me: how can we put farmers in jail in one part of the country but not in the rest of the country when they're doing exactly the same thing? I wish Mr. Easter would listen when I say that, because it's important. How can we put farmers in jail in one part of the country but not in the rest of the country for doing exactly the same thing?
Mr. Chatenay can contribute to this discussion today. He's here today, and he's been around for two extra days in the hope that he could testify. Because he was scheduled to be here, he stayed to appear.
I could go on for the next hour talking about Mr. Chatenay and his story. I'm not going to do that. Rather, I would like to try to be constructive.
In his usual rhetorical style of the past, Mr. Easter has used words about this debate over the last couple of months. I wish I could read some of them. He's talked about the fact that the very principles of a democratic country are at stake. He's talked about things being undemocratic, and he's talked about intimidation and the suppression of information.
The one I liked best was when he was talking about the fact that in communist Russia, when people disagreed, they simply disappeared. I thought it was interesting, because on Tuesday, I presume because Mr. Chatenay did not agree with certain members of the steering committee, he simply disappeared as a witness.
I'm asking the committee to do the right thing. I know none of us want Mr. Easter's adjectives to describe this committee and its activities, so I'm going to ask for the committee's support for a motion.
The motion is that Mr. Jim Chatenay, Canadian Wheat Board director, be allowed to join the table as a witness.