Thank you, Minister, for appearing before the committee.
Your position is no surprise to the Liberal Party, but I'm going to ask you specifically about the following. You said in Minnedosa in March that there wouldn't be any attempt to impose dual marketing on the Canadian Wheat Board unless a majority of producers voted for it. You told them that in what was described as a campaign-style speech. You know the quote from the Manitoba Co-operator: “Until farmers make that change, I’m not prepared to work arbitrarily”, said Ritz. “They are absolutely right to believe in democracy. I do, too.”
Now having said that, you were elected. Everyone knows that you regard 39% of the vote to be adequate for you to bring about these changes. We know your answer. You've said it many times.
Yet there are the pleas of farmers, in begging for the stability the Wheat Board offers, and in begging for the clout that the Wheat Board offers over railways, producer cars, and large grain companies. They have asked time and time again and pleaded with you. We've petitioned you in Parliament to hold your own plebiscite, if you don't believe in theirs and figured that it's just an expensive survey. Those pleas have been ignored.
Having said that, I'll take you to the legislation. My questions to you, Minister, are specific, and I'm asking you to be specific in your answers, with a yes or no. Your answers in question period are that you have faith in farmers.