Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
The motion is as follows:
That the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food write a letter to the Honourable Sheila Fraser, Auditor General of Canada, indicating the Committee’s support for the National Farmers Union’s (NFU) April 19th, 2007 submission to the Honourable Sheila Fraser calling for an investigation into the government’s conduct and spending by the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food throughout the recent Canadian Wheat Board barley marketing plebiscite.
I'll take a few minutes to speak to this motion, with the agreement of my colleagues, and obviously leave some time for some rebuttal.
Although it may seem strange that I'm bringing up the letter of the National Farmers Union, basically this letter summarizes my party's position and concerns in regard to the barley plebiscite. I feel, and we feel, there has been some confusion in the process. The final question lacked clarity. It's my contention that this plebiscite ignored the will of Parliament in regard to the type of question, and I think it's fair. I should emphasize that we're calling for an investigation into the process, and if the process has been fair and legitimate, then obviously the conclusions will result from the process and we'll move on. On the other hand, if it hasn't and it is found that there were some irregularities, then being part of our democratic system, that is what we have to look for. So let's let the Auditor General decide part of this democratic process.
There's just a brief summary of this letter, which we all have. I feel there is some question in regard to the actual language of this three-part question, which led the producer to conclude, with the second question, that the producer could have the best of both worlds--in other words, a strong Canadian Wheat Board and the chance to sell outside of the Wheat Board.
One thing that has been my concern since the beginning of this process is the fact that I believe this has been hastily fashioned. The whole process--the sham commission, the blockage, the changing of the Wheat Board director, some of the criteria for the votes--was just part of this step to eventually dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. I would like to submit that from the studies that have been done, and in fact even the minister's own report—