Mr. Speaker, it is very difficult to sit hear and listen to some of these things.
I would like the member who just spoke to come out and stand on the street corners of Hussar, Standard, Olds, Sundry or Didsbury and talk to the farmers I talk to day in and day out. He would find out that what he is saying is not true.
What really amazes me is that they are not talking about freedom of choice. It does not seem to me that they want it. But then I have to stop and remember these people are of the old line governments and parties that figure they always know best and they want control. It is as obvious as it can be. If the government is not involved, it is no good. That is the old rule, the old way of doing things. That is in the past. Count on it. It will be gone.
A very wise man said to me when I was elected in 1993 “There is one thing about it, you have now obtained power.” I felt like sticking my chest out a little bit. I had not had much power before in my life and now he said I have power. He said he wanted me to remember one thing, “Please remember this on behalf of us. When you go to Ottawa, the power you have received is the power to serve”, not the power to dictate like they do behind closed doors.
There is legislation coming out from behind closed doors day in and day out. It is brought in and presented to the House like Bill C-4, and all the little puppets will have their strings pulled and they will jump up and vote the way the party told them to vote. That is the way they do it. The Liberals will do what they are told. They will vote the way they are told to vote.
If members were truly serving Canadians and were truly using their power, they would take the time before casting their votes to go out to the ridings of prairie farmers where the legislation has the most effect and talk to them. They should not be like the phoney Liberal panel that was set up. It backfired because the panel brought back all kinds of recommendations from farmers. The Liberals got rid of that panel and did not follow those recommendations because they did not suit their little cup of tea.
It is the same old story over and over again. The Liberals, the NDP, and right down the line. Every old line party that has ever been here says “We know best. We will have it our way”. That is something Canadian people are sick and tired of. That is something I am sick and tired of.
In 1993 when the Conservatives were in power they had the wisdom to open up the intercontinental barley market. They did that for a while. Guess what? During that time farmers did better than they had ever done in the history of growing crops.
Guess what else? The wheat board did better than it had ever done. For the first time it had some competition. It decided it had to get off its backside, get out there, get to work and find some of these markets as well. That is good healthy competition. That is why farmers are saying keep the wheat board but give us a choice.
I do not believe that is asking for too much. I can hardly wait to go back home. A Wild Rose constituent asked me when I expected the minister to rise in the House and announce that canola growers want to market through the board. My constituent hit the nail on the head. After all, canola growers have nurtured, researched and developed a former niche industry into an agricultural powerhouse. The farmers did it. Canola producers did all this without any dictated government involvement. Now that it is to be such a success, mark my words, one day the government will want control of it.
The government's power is to dictate. It has not learned the power to serve. I challenge government members to do that. I challenge every one of them when they vote on this piece of legislation to vote in the interest of the people it is affecting, prairie farmers.
God help me if I ever vote against any legislation that hurts the fishing industry. I do my best to try to represent them with my vote, and I do not have anything but little brook trout in my riding. I try to understand their problems and try to vote in their interest. I talk to fishermen whenever I get a chance.
Come on out to Wild Rose. Stand on the street corners and talk to the farmers who grow grain. Ask them what they think about Bill C-4. Talk to them one on one.
Perhaps those members want to continue to listen to phoney panels and the phoney things they do across the country. They fly around, as they say, consulting with the elite and making sure all the right ones are in the ivory towers of Calgary instead of visiting Hussar, Standard, Olds, Didsbury or other small communities where farmers live and thrive. Then it might change some things.
The government ought to start thinking about the power to serve and stop the power of dictation.