Madam Speaker, that verification is very timely and very helpful, thank you.
The question asked by the hon. gentleman from Frontenac is very important. As I said during my remarks, I have placed a great deal of faith and confidence in the integrity and hard work of the western grain marketing panel. We are now, quite literally, within a few days of receiving the panel's report. I expect it to be a very useful document.
Once I receive the report and we have all had a few days to digest it and come to understand it, it would be my intention to move as rapidly as possible to respond to what the report recommends. I believe that would be useful.
On the various topics that were covered in the hon. gentleman's comments, he referred to the modernization of the board. Of course that issue is before the western grain marketing panel, as well as issues related to corporate governance, issues related to accountability, issues related to public information.
It may well be that the panel would recommend some kind of method of electing a board of directors. That is a possibility. I do not know. That idea was recommended to the panel by some of the groups that appeared before it. Perhaps on reflection, the panel members will embrace that idea. They might not, but I am sure they are going to turn their minds to the general issues relating to corporate governance and accountability.
I imagine the panel will also have some things to say about the information needs and requirements of farmers to ensure that they have all the facts, figures and ongoing information about what the board is, what it is not, what it does, what it does not do and so forth, which is obviously to make sure that the board's clientele is fully informed about what it does on their behalf.
It is worth noting, as a final comment in response to this question, that four or five years ago, the Canadian Wheat Board commissioned a management study by the management consulting firm of Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte & Touche provided the board with a report on how the board, even within its current system of corporate governance, could improve a number of areas of management. The board has informed me that virtually every one of those recommendations from Deloitte & Touche have been implemented in the intervening years, and the board's operations have improved as a consequence.
While I may disagree with the hon. gentleman on the fundamentals of a few other issues, I appreciate the tone that was involved in his question on this particular topic. What I hope we are all seeking to do is to achieve the very best possible marketing system for farmers.