On the issue of cost-benefit analysis, this was not part of the work of the people here tonight. I brought a binder with seven or eight studies that have been done over the last 15 years on the topic of cost-benefit analysis. This has been a long-standing debate, and there have been many studies done, in support of an open-market approach and against it.
The list of studies that I've brought today includes one by Professors Carter and Loyns in 1996 entitled “The Economics of Single Desk Selling of Western Canadian Grain”. There are also two studies by the George Morris Centre in 2002. Many of you may have noticed that yesterday the George Morris Centre released another report supporting the open market approach. There are two C.D. Howe studies done in 2008 and 2011 that are also supportive of an open market approach. In 2008 Informa Economics did a study called “An Open Market for CWB Grain”.
Overall, these studies find no evidence that prices are higher because of the Wheat Board monopoly powers. They point to evidence that prices to farmers in other countries are higher for the same quality and market, and they identify higher costs associated with the CWB monopoly itself.