Mr. Chair, just to speak in favour of this motion, there is a requirement under section 47.1. As I said in the House yesterday, we do believe the minister did perform an illegal act. Actually, he violated his oath of office yesterday in his introduction of legislation in the House, in that they have not met the requirement of section 47.1 in terms of consulting with the board and holding a plebiscite among producers on the specific intent of their legislation. The chair at the Canadian Wheat Board said as recently as Saturday that there was no consultation.
The previous minister said while the previous so-called plebiscite was being held that he talked about it sometimes and that it was a consultation, but he did say specifically that it was not binding, and it certainly could be considered more of a public opinion survey.
The current minister has made it clear that he is doing away with the single desk marketing of barley.
The parliamentary secretary to the Minister to the Canadian Wheat Board and the previous minister went to great lengths in the past to talk about how you could have dual marketing in which you had single desk selling and the open market. We argued at the time that you couldn't have both. The current minister, to his credit, has admitted that it's not possible, and he's made it clear that this legislation will do away with the single desk marketing of barley.
None of the qualifications of section 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act have been followed in terms of the introduction of this legislation. We believe the committee should pass this motion and report so to the House.