Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Motion No. 1 moved by my colleague from Yorkton—Melville. I originally had not intended to intervene in the debate at this point, but after listening yesterday to the debate in the House and to some of the comments on the government side I was motivated to take part in the debate.
I can speak to the issue before us, the Canadian Wheat Board bill, with some authority, being the third generation in my family to be involved in the farming profession. My family held a wheat board permit probably since the creation of the Canadian Wheat Board and certainly since the creation of the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board.
That is an important consideration to note as we take part in the debate because of some of the interventions made by the other side, in particular by the member for Hamilton—Wentworth yesterday, on the credibility and the willingness of members on both sides to speak.
I would like it understood that my constituents and I support the concept of single desk selling for prairie grain farmers. Producers in my constituency feel strongly about that and would wish to support it.
Producers in my constituency are simply asking for fairness and equality with grain producers in others parts of Canada. They are asking for transparency and accountability on the part of the board and an end to the secrecy and the closed situation we have now.
Both the interests of my producers in preserving a single desk selling agency and their desire for transparency and accountability could be achieved if the government had chosen to go that route. We could preserve the Canadian Wheat Board and provide farmers with choices.
If the Canadian Wheat Board were acting in the best interests of producers, producers would use the Canadian Wheat Board. The problem is that we are setting up a situation that will inevitably destroy the Canadian Wheat Board. Farmers will continue to fight for choices and options. Eventually it will mean the destruction of the wheat board and the loss of the concept of the single desk selling agency. That would be a real change.
We heard a lot of discussion in the debate yesterday about who the Canadian Wheat Board currently works for and who it will work for under this bill if it goes forward. It is pretty obvious to all of us grain producers that the Canadian Wheat Board as far back as World War II was not working in the best interest of farmers and some of my colleagues raised that point.
In our contribution to the war effort in western Canada, we probably contributed more through the loss of revenue on grain sales than what the national energy program drew out of western Canada. There was a tremendous loss in revenue to the western Canadian producer. Yet there does not seem to have been any recognition of that and certainly no recognition here.
There are all kinds of other instances where the Canadian Wheat Board has been used as a foreign policy tool and even a domestic internal policy tool, much to the detriment of the Canadian producer.
I would also like to respond to the comments made by the hon. member for Hamilton—Wentworth yesterday who took great grievance because of his impression that somebody over here said that he had no right to speak on this issue. As a member of this House, he certainly had every right to speak on this issue, but the question has to be about the credibility of those who are speaking on the issue.
The parliamentary secretary to the agriculture minister is a potato farmer from Prince Edward Island who judiciously guards his right to make choices in the marketing—
