Mr. Speaker, I have just a few short words on these amendments.
Motion No. 3 proposes to allow people who operate a primary or process elevator or who carry on business as a grain dealer without being licensed under this act to apply to the commission to be exempted under paragraph 17(b) of the act. In effect it sets out a class that is not particularly well defined which may apply for exemption under the Canada Grain Act. That is probably rather dangerous for us.
We would probably be better to await a specialty crops act and deal with these kinds of issues properly. There is the possibility for the kind of anomaly that was raised by our friends from the Bloc. One of the large players might decide to opt out. It would make the whole marketing practice that Canada has been engaged in since the turn of the century very suspect.
What we have now is a system where product identification is absolutely secure. It is guaranteed in Canada. This is one of the tools that Canada has used for almost 100 years to break into markets. We are the quality product. We have made Canadian grains similar to what the Mercedes Benz is to cars.
We have to take some care in allowing people to opt out. I am sure that McDonald's would not permit some of its franchisees to opt out and still go on selling Big Macs. We have not designated with this opting out process whether Canada No. 1 can still be sold as Canada No. 1 even though there is a disclaimer on the bill of lading saying that the dealer did not comply with the Canada Grain Act. Customers are not going to understand this. It is only going to reflect badly on all Canadian farm produce. We would be just as well to stay away from it.