This is a two-part amendment, because we have changes to recommend to both proposed subsection 9(1) and proposed subsection 9(2)--although all of this, as you said, is within the context of clause 14, so I don't blame Mr. Easter and others for having a difficult time getting our minds around this.
I'll speak to both at the same time as a concept, even though we are going to vote on only what you're calling amendment NDP-7.
We believe the board of directors should have 15 directors, not five, as contemplated in the new legislation. I point out that proposed subsection 9(1) actually prescribes five directors, which would include a chairperson and a president, all of whom would be appointed by the government. We believe this is contrary to the spirit of the original Canadian Wheat Board and also, I believe, a breach of the commitment made by government to allow farmers to control their own destiny.
It's unbelievable to me that we could even be considering this idea that the heavy hand of the state would come in and fire all of the democratically elected directors of a non-profit cooperative organization and impose five directors chosen by the minister--it's Stalinist. I hear members on the government side calling the Wheat Board “communism” and saying they're lifting the iron curtain to provide freedom. It is the heavy hand of the state that is stamping on and trampling all over the rights of farm people by imposing these directors.
So by the first stage of this two-part effort here in proposed section 9, which is part of clause 14, we would reconstitute or maintain the status quo of 15 directors. The next stage proposes that farmers elect those directors in keeping with the principle of farmers being in control of their own destiny in the rural prairie farm economy.
If anyone else would like to comment on that, they can finish my time.