Mr. Speaker, too bad all members of the House are not listening carefully to the debate that is going on here before casting their votes. Instead they are waiting for the whip of a certain party to pull their strings so the little puppets can jump up and vote the way they are told, the way they have done in the House for ages. It is too bad that happens.
I was talking about maximizing profits, which is what the preamble is all about. It is only common sense. Anybody with the brain of a fish could say that makes sense.
I went to two court trials in Brandon, Manitoba, and spent some time watching the proceedings. Individuals were brought before the court for having illegally sold their grain across the border without wheat board permits and were charged. They actually broke the law; nobody is denying that. Their purpose for selling grain across the border was not as a protest against any board or any particular legislation. They were trying to maximize their profits.
In many cases the people who were doing this all across the border were trying to maximize their profits. They found themselves in the situation that if they did not get the best prices for their goods their farms could go under. They could go broke. They were trying to provide for the livelihood of their families. They had worked all their lives and were saying they had to do something or they would go under. Nobody wants to go under. They made an effort by doing that, but the legislation stated that they could not.
One court case amazed me. An individual had broken into a farm residence, ransacked the property, killed three dogs, set fire to a tractor and stolen a pick-up truck. Later he was apprehended and convicted. He received a sentence of community service. The same day a farmer was brought in who had tried to maximize his profits by taking his crop across the border. He was taken away in shackles and chains.
Not only that. One farmer who had done it two or three times received a consecutive sentence. I have been screaming at the government for ages about consecutive sentences. Clifford Olson should not be serving one life sentence; he should be serving eleven. We finally got a consecutive sentencing. We got it for a farmer who tried to maximize his profits by taking his crop across the border. That is the wisdom of the justice system.
It is terribly frustrating to look at farmers being hauled off in chains and shackles while a guy who destroys and steals thousands and thousands of dollars worth of property gets community service.