Mr. Speaker, I too am pleased to speak to Bill C-283, an act to amend the Canadian Wheat Board Act. I listened with interest to the member for Portage—Lisgar as he spoke on the differentiation in prices between American and Canadian grains over the last number of years.
I do not challenge the numbers at all but I wonder if another interpretation can be made rather than one that condemns the Canadian Wheat Board for the apparently lower prices. I wonder if it is not higher subsidies in the United States. Higher subsidies, whether in the U.S. or anywhere else, tend to depress the international market. I say with some regret and a lot of concern that we are seeing more of it in this country. We are seeing more disparity with the Americans having recently passed a huge farm aid package. Yet we seem to be saying that we have NISA and crop insurance and that we are well served. Everybody who lives in western Canada these days knows that is just not correct.
In Bill C-283 the hon. member for Portage—Lisgar is asking that the accounts and records of the Canadian Wheat Board be audited each year by the Auditor General of Canada. He is further requesting that the auditor general make this audit available to the wheat board minister and that the minister table the report in the House of Commons within 15 sitting days of receiving it. These are the main provisions in Bill C-283 although the hon. member makes several other requests as well.
I will not be supporting this bill. I will outline some of the reasons why. I believe the hon. member's requests in Bill C-283 have largely been overtaken by events over the past year. It seems that what he is requesting is already in the process of occurring under the terms of Bill C-4. This bill was first introduced in November 1997, almost a year ago, when the debate on Bill C-4 was perhaps at its highest flashpoint in and around this Chamber. That legislation was subsequently passed last June which means, as has been pointed out, that there will be significant changes in the way the wheat board will operate in the future.
Bill C-4 as amended and proclaimed allows the auditor general to scrutinize the books of the CWB. The wheat board legislation received intense scrutiny. It was referred to the agriculture committee in the first week of the 36th parliament. It was debated fully in this House and the Senate agriculture committee held public hearings across western Canada last spring. Following those public hearings the Senate agriculture committee recommended that the board's books be opened to the auditor general on request. The wheat board minister accepted this recommendation word for word and it has become section 8.1 of the amended bill.
The Senate committee's report took note of the fact that the wheat board would be holding elections for a board of directors. Those elections are occurring through a mail preferential ballot as we speak and will be finishing next month. It is worth noting what the committee actually said about its recommendations regarding the auditor general's reviewing the books of the Canadian Wheat Board. I quote briefly from that report of last May:
“All directors of the proposed board would have access to all Canadian Wheat Board facts and figures, including the fully audited financial statements. The minister has suggested that, with this full knowledge of the CWB and its competition, the directors would be in the best position to assess which information should be made public and which should remain confidential for commercial reasons”.
As has been pointed out by the member for Charleswood St. James—Assiniboia, international grain trade is a very competitive business. The wheat board is a $6 billion a year operation with customers around the globe. Not surprisingly, the board's clients are sensitive about the release of information that might apply to them.
I believe fully that the board has to strike a balance between openness and confidentiality in the commercial information that it releases and I believe that, by and large, it has been successful in striking that balance.
In any event, my first point is that much of what the member is requesting will become reality when the new board of directors is in place in 1999.
I am sure the amended Bill C-4 which contains the recommendations referred to regarding the auditor general will not be enough to appease the hon. member or his party. We know that the Reform Party and the National Citizens' Coalition have been unremittingly hostile to the existence of the Canadian Wheat Board. Their allegation, which is repeated regularly and constantly, is that the board is a dark, dank and secretive organization.
We talked a lot about that in committee. We spoke about it during the debate on Bill C-4. I think it is important that we separate the wheat from the chaff on this issue. I believe that the board is, by and large, a remarkably transparent organization compared with its competitors in the international grain trade.
As has been acknowledged even by the member for Portage—Lisgar, the board's books have been audited for years by the well known Canadian firm of Deloitte & Touche. The most salient points of the audit are included in the wheat board's annual report which is public information and available to anyone who wants to read it.
In addition, there is a synopsis for those who prefer to read the short version as opposed to the full report. As well, the board regularly holds public meetings throughout the countryside to discuss its operations with Canadian grain farmers. This kind of openness and information sharing is hardly the trademark of a secretive, dark organization.
I would suggest that the Canadian Wheat Board probably provides at least as much, and likely more, information as other Canadian grain companies involved in the grain trade, including the United Grain Growers and the various prairie pools.
The wheat board's international competitors, companies like Cargill, which are privately held, do not provide nearly as much information as the wheat board.
Let us lay to rest, once and for all, this mantra because there is no foundation to say that the Canadian Wheat Board is not an open organization.
In conclusion, for the reasons outlined, I will be voting against Bill C-283.