Mr. Speaker, western farmers are angered because the Canadian Wheat Board will not honour barley contracts in their entirety. Apparently the board cannot sell farmers' grain with some of the strongest prices and record low supplies.
Does the government not realize that farmers must sell their products in order to survive? The CWB refuses to allow farmers to ship into the lucrative U.S. market. The government uses Revenue Canada and Customs as its personal hound dogs in cracking down on farmers who are forced to go outside the board's monopoly.
It is never okay to break the law, but when farmers are losing their farms and have no cash flow to plant a spring crop, the government had better act.
Western provincial governments know that farmers are needed. The Alberta agriculture minister and his Liberal critic realize that the federal government has ignored farmers' concerns with their inaction.
I urge the government to listen to these concerns and implement no cost export licences so farmers can protect their livelihoods.