Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister.
Minister, you're about to embark on a sweeping change to the rural prairie farm economy and we haven't seen a business case for it. We haven't seen a cost-benefit analysis put forward by your government that shows, beyond reasonable doubt, that it will be better for prairie producers. All we hear about is your own personal views, which you have a right to, and anecdotal information from others.
When we challenge the lack of a plebiscite and the lack of a survey by the government, you say you conducted a survey last weekend. You say you went home and talked to all of the farmers on your road and every one of them agrees with you. That's not good enough if you're going to dismantle a successful $6-billion-a-year corporation that is successfully owned, operated, and run by prairie farmers. So that's our concern here, that you haven't presented a business case to Canadians and you haven't given Parliament adequate time to do its due diligence.
Whether you're pro-Wheat Board or anti-Wheat Board, you have to admit that the changes you're putting forward are radical and are going to change the way we've done business for the last 75 years. Surely, it warrants more than two four-hour meetings and one meeting tomorrow night for some amendments that will all be voted down as you ram this through.
I know I'm talking and not asking questions, but let me just ask you your view of some of the following statements. In August 2011, the president of the U.S. Wheat Associates said that elimination of the single desk could leave a void in farmer advocacy, market development, customer support, export promotion, and quality assurance. Another American voice, Robert Carlson, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, said he was convinced that the board earned Canadian farmers big premiums compared to U.S. prices and that the end of the monopoly would further weaken farmers and give more control to the giant multinationals. He said this had been “consistently true”.
Americans seem to get it that the single desk monopoly has been an advantage to Canadian farmers. Your narrow, wilful blindness to this reality is going to cost the prairie economy a fortune. At a time of economic uncertainty and instability, it's reckless and irresponsible to throw this further uncertainty into the agriculture industry of the rural prairie economy.
I don't expect to change your mind. I don't expect to win this debate. We're witnessing the death rattle of the Canadian Wheat Board at your hands. That's your objective. And you have the right to do it, I suppose. You have the majority. But can you not at least acknowledge that you haven't given us the business case to justify what you're planning to do?