Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Friesen, for appearing before the committee.
For consistency's sake I'm going to ask you a question that I asked of one of the previous witnesses.
I've been on the agriculture committee now for three years, and I've heard from farmers appearing at that committee and elsewhere. They've expressed their concern that in the absence of action on the rail service review, getting crops around the prairies to their points of destination is very difficult as it is, and the clout that the Canadian Wheat Board provides gives farmers an edge that they need. They're concerned about the gap that is going to be created in the absence of the clout of the Canadian Wheat Board.
That question arises from my review, not only from my discussion with the farmers, but the report of the working group on marketing freedom. On page 8 and other pages they say the minister and the government should give market forces every opportunity to work and interventions should be considered only when necessary, and they refer to the Competition Act and the Competition Bureau as tools the minister can effectively use to address anti-competitive behaviour.
My concern is that farmers have come before our committee many times and said this is an ineffective tool. There's really nothing that the Competition Bureau has ever done, particularly with respect to the railways, who will even give them cars that have holes in them, and they lose their grain as the cars are running down the tracks.
So I'm wondering, since on page 10 of that report--Mr. Allen made reference to this in one of his questions--they're suggesting the bar be set high, and the government be reluctant to intervene, do you see a gap? Do you see a loss of clout? Do you see the Competition Act and the Competition Bureau as effective tools that can be used to prevent the abuse that everyone fears the farmers will suffer at the hands of the railway?