Talking about these programs has never been my forte. I've never personally benefited from them, really, because my farm is so diverse. Also, because we continually talk about them, and because we increasingly and regularly talk about the constraints we have because of our agreements through WTO that have handcuffed us in many ways, I have a feeling this is creating a really insidious culture of dependency. It's not something I really want to talk about, simply because I think it's extremely negative.
I think we need to talk about the harder subject. I think we need to talk about how we got into this pit. How do we address the inequality in the marketplace we find ourselves in? And how do we address that instead of undermining what works in this country, such as the single-desk selling that we have in the Canadian Wheat Board?
So we have on one hand a government that is doggedly determined to undermine and destroy the marketing power we have through the Canadian Wheat Board and, on the other, tops us up through a business risk management program. Now, if that's not insidiously creating a culture of dependency, then what is?
So I find this a very negative thing to talk about.
What I like to talk about is more single-desk selling, more supply management. This would certainly address, on a certain level, the income crisis we have in Canada. But that's a much harder discussion to have.