Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to take part in this debate on the implementation of the GATT agreement and the World Trade Organization.
This is the first time since GATT negotiations have taken place that agriculture is a substantial part in the agreement which is very encouraging. As we can see from the general support for this legislation which will implement GATT and put in place the World Trade Organization, there is widespread support in this House as well. I think it is very encouraging to see that.
There are however some problems with this bill. I would like to speak about some of the concerns I have with the bill, although again I want to reiterate that Reform does support this bill strongly and I support this bill. However, there are still some concern mainly with regard to implementing GATT and the workings of the World Trade Organization.
I know farmers are ready for this trade organization. I have seen this over the past years as the GATT negotiations have proceeded. I certainly hear it now from individual farmers and farm groups that they do support this deal. Clearly farmers are ready for this deal to be in place and to have the World Trade Organization in place as a referee, to use the analogy of my colleague. Is government ready?
I am going to ask a lot of questions today about whether this government is ready for the implementation of this GATT deal and for the World Trade Organization to be put in place.
My questions fall into two areas. The first question is in the area of interprovincial trade barriers and the lack of this government's dealing with that area, especially in agriculture.
Agriculture is a major part of the GATT negotiations. Yet in the negotiations on reducing interprovincial trade barriers held by the government with the provinces over the past summer, there was virtually no substantial agreement or deal made between the provinces and the federal government in the area of agriculture. This important part of trade in the world situation and in the GATT has not been dealt with in this country. That is the first area.
The second area is with regard to government agencies. I have questions about whether the government is ready for the deal when we look at how it is taking part and refusing to change certain government agencies.
I would like to briefly talk about interprovincial trade barriers. Agriculture is an important part of the overall GATT deal, but it has not been dealt with as a serious issue in terms of freeing up the barriers between provinces in the area of the trade in agricultural commodities. It is important that there be some action on the part of the agriculture minister and other cabinet ministers in the area of lowering and removing interprovincial trade barriers.
The third area is government agencies and how the government has dealt with them. The agencies I am talking about particularly are the Canadian Wheat Board, the supply management system and the Western Grain Transportation Act. I will keep my comments on the Western Grain Transportation Act very brief because the member for Lisgar-Marquette has already dealt with the issue to some extent. I will talk about the Canadian Wheat Board and some of the questions I have with regard to changes that will be required to the Canadian Wheat Board to make the GATT deal work.
In the agreement there are two changes to the Canadian Wheat Board Act. They are laid out in clauses 48 and 49 of the bill. Clause 48 deals with changes to section 45 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act. Under these changes the Canadian Wheat Board will control only exports and no longer control imports of wheat and barley.
I want members to think about that a bit. Right now the Canadian Wheat Board controls imports and exports of wheat and barley. Under the change the Canadian Wheat Board will only control exports of wheat and barley. I ask if it makes much sense for our government to control exports when we have just negotiated a trade agreement which is meant to allow for freer trade of goods in and out of the country. It makes no sense.
Clause 49 changes section 46 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act. It says that the Canadian Wheat Board no longer controls licences for imports into Canada. It gives up the restriction on imports of grain and gives up the control of licensing imports. At the same time it maintains under the Canadian Wheat Board Act restrictions on exports. It seems absolutely ridiculous that imports are no longer restricted under the act and exports continue to be restricted under the Canadian Wheat Board Act.
What does that mean in terms of what will happen in the grain industry? I think it means a lot of things. It means that American farmers will now be able to sell directly to Canadian millers while Canadian farmers may not. Does that sound incredibly ridiculous? It is. We need further changes to the Canadian Wheat Board Act to allow Canadian farmers to sell directly to Canadian millers. American farmers will have this right after the bill is passed, as it surely will be.
I would like to tell a story about a Canadian entrepreneur that I heard at the wheat board rally in Regina three or four weeks ago. To diversify his operations a farmer built a flour mill on his farm. He employed people from off farm to run the mill. It was the type of operation we all want to see.
What was his concern and why was he one of the speakers at the wheat board rally in Regina? The reasons are really quite simple. For him to use his own wheat in his flour mill, it was necessary for the farmer to sell his grain through the Canadian Wheat Board to be strictly operating under the law. He needed his own flour because he was making specialty flour products and selling them across western Canada. Yet to do that, to use the wheat that he was growing to produce flour, he had to go through the Canadian Wheat Board. That sounds almost unbelievable when we are talking about opening up the trade environment.
The farmer also wanted to expand into the American market with his specialty flour. What was restricting him from doing that? The Canadian Wheat Board was restricting him from doing that. He would have to get a permit under the Canadian Wheat Board Act to sell his flour into the American market, a restriction that he did not want to live with.
If we look at the particular situation of the farmer and carry it a little further and if the bill passes as it almost certainly will, the farmer may go to an American farmer across the border, buy his flour without going through the Canadian Wheat Board, buy wheat for his mill without going through the Canadian Wheat Board. He will not be able to do that under the changes. The sellers will not need a licence to import the wheat to be used in his mill. Yet he cannot use his own flour in his own mill. He cannot use his neighbour's flour in his own mill because of the restrictions of the Canadian Wheat Board. It sounds absurd and it is absurd.
I would like to ask the minister a series of questions. First, does it seem reasonable to allow Canadian farmers the same freedom American farmers enjoy? Does that seem reasonable? Should not Canadian farmers at least have the same freedom in marketing their wheat and their barley as American farmers have, especially when we are talking about marketing into the Canadian market? They do not now have the same freedom.
The second question is in regard to giving farmers control of the Canadian Wheat Board which, after all, is their organization. Farmers pay the bills to operate the Canadian Wheat Board. The Canadian Wheat Board supposedly exists for the benefit of farmers. That being the case, how could the minister or any other minister possibly refuse to give farmers control over this organization?
I have asked the minister this question several times over the past few months and the answer has been that they have to study the matter or the answer went in some other direction entirely.
When I am talking about giving farmers control over their own organization, I am only talking about farmers electing a board of directors to replace the present appointed board. That would make the Canadian Wheat Board accountable to farmers who really pay for the operation of the organization. Why on earth would the minister or anyone else have to do a study to decide to give farmers control over their organization by electing a board of directors? I cannot think of an answer.
I would just like to ask a couple more questions in the time I have left. Has anyone asked farmers whether they want the wheat board maintained as a monopoly operation? I know other Reform members and I have. The minister certainly has not and it is time that he did. The minister has an obligation to ask farmers whether they want this monopoly maintained. Has anyone asked farmers whether they want appointed commissioners replaced with an elected board of directors?