The only thing that will change with the Wheat Board is that the single desk—the monopoly—will be gone. The Canadian Wheat Board will still be there, it'll still be at the same address, and we're hopeful that a lot of the really good marketers and analysts and so on, which the Wheat Board has developed over the years, will stay with the Wheat Board and continue to offer pooling and a brokerage.
The Wheat Board now will actually have more tools in its toolbox to offer farmers as well. They can pool any grain, they can broker any grain, they can facilitate, and they can do whatever is needed to make sure they serve farmers in the best way forward. They'll have the ability to strike partnerships with any of the industry players. They'll continue to work on contracting with railways. They'll continue to work with producer cars, but as you well know, producer cars are guaranteed under the Canada Grain Act and administered by the Canadian Grain Commission.
They'll continue to operate in a way that will flow the check-off. We're making sure that the check-off stays there for science and research. The check-off will be done at point of sale, and of course the board will be involved in some of that, making sales. The check-off will then flow back through Agriculture Canada during that five-year transition. That's already geared up to five years, so we make sure the Western Grains Research Foundation and all the other groups are well funded and still able to move forward.
A lot of the situations will stay the same. The only thing that changes is that farmers are no longer forced to deal only with the Canadian Wheat Board. They'll be able to deal with the same multinationals, if they so desire, that they do with their canola and their special crops. They'll be able to deal with other brokers who will pop up and other pooling systems that will pop up.
I met yesterday with Brad Vannan of ICE. They'll be up and running very soon into the new year, offering a pool for wheat. They've had one for canola that's very successful. Farmers recognize their expertise.
So not a lot will change with the actual Wheat Board, with the exception of the single desk.