I will never oppose the new trend of direct marketing, the tools that farmers have the right to put in place, the collective marketing tools, and I hope this direct marketing will evolve from very little volume now, with less than 1% in some products and 4% or 5% in others. I will be very happy if it doubles to 10% in the next five or 10 years or it goes to 20% of the market.
I will be more than happy with that, there's no doubt in my mind, but the large-volume commodities that we are producing in this country will have to get to the market and will have to bring back money to the farmers. The best way to get better money from the marketplace is to make sure the farmers make the decisions.
I'm watching this. I'm new as CFA chair, but I'm not new in agriculture. I've been there for 40 years. I've travelled in western Canada many, many times, participating in farmers' meetings. I've been invited to speak to farmers to explain how we work in our part of the country and how farmers can get together and be stronger. I've been there for years.
I have a very high respect for farmers and I'm very confident in the decisions that farmers are taking. I look to the last election of the board for the Canadian Wheat Board. I look to the people they have elected there, and I see that the majority of the people who were elected there are supporters of the collective marketing system.
You've probably remarked that I never used the word “monopoly”, because I don't think the Canadian Wheat Board is a monopoly system--