Mr. Speaker, some day in the future there will be a dual market because every farmer in the country cannot be kept under a monopoly. That will change. I have no about it. When it happens I hope the government of the day apologizes to farmers and pays compensation. I will be waiting to see the day. I am sure it will happen in my lifetime, God willing.
I am sure the hon. member for Palliser voted against the time allocation motion, having the debate shortened, but he seemed to support it in his speech. I cannot imagine why he would do that when we are trying to get all the facts on the table. We are trying to present them to the government that is bringing forward the bill so that it can learn to change its ways and change the bill to reflect what is best for Canada and for farmers.
I would like to bring NDP members up to date. They talk about survival of the Canadian Wheat Board as do the Liberals and Bloc members. It is paramount in their minds. Everyone should be talking about the survival of Canadian farmers in western Canada.
I will describe a typical farm in western Canadian. We are not talking about a quarter section or a half section any more. We are talking about investment dollars in the millions, just under a million dollars to run a decent sized grain farm. We are talking about a significant business.
It is foolish to talk about marketing grain as it was done 60 years ago or to say that is the way it should be done nowadays. The cosmetic changes the Liberals are putting forward in the bill do nothing with regard to true price discovery. They do nothing with regard to freedom for individuals to produce a product and sell it on their own as they see fit. The bill is a recipe for disaster for western Canada.
I would like to talk for a minute about what would happen if the wheat board went to a dual market or allowed farmers to sell on their own. Who would then market the grain? One of the biggest marketers would be the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. I lived in Saskatchewan before I moved to Manitoba. There was a lot support for Sask Pool. Many of my old CCF relatives, current NDP relatives and others in Saskatchewan support the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool is a top grain marketing co-op in the world. The pool placed 23rd overall. It was the largest grain marketing co-op. Those that ranked above it were involved in dairy, meat and sugar.
If a farmer were allowed to sell his grain outside the wheat board, he might choose to sell it to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, with its size in the world economy, especially in the agricultural sector, could very well find out what is a good price. It could compete against the wheat board. It could compete against Cargill, UGG and ADM. At that point the farmer would have the choice. He would say that he got a real good price from Sask Pool and that is where he would like to sell his grain. If Sask Pool suddenly decided to shaft the farmer for a few years and to start giving grain away for political reasons or doing something foolish to cause the price paid to the farmer to go down, we would soon see the farmer selling to an alternative buyer.
Sask Pool has made an alliance with an eastern European country with regard to the possibility of changes in the future grain marketing system in Canada. UGG has formed a strategic alliance with a Japanese company, Marubeni. I read from a report:
Industry sources said the alliance is also part of a long term strategy by Marubeni as it is watching for deregulation of Canada's wheat and barley markets.
What do they think Saskatchewan Wheat Pool is doing? It knows a deregulated market for marketing grain is coming down the pipes. Everybody in the House should know it by now. There is enough information around. For some reason the Liberal government is sticking its head in the sand. Instead of trying to make changes today it will keep western Canadian farmers in this straitjacket monopoly for the next 10 years to 15 years. Maybe this straitjacket will only last until the next election, with any luck.
I would like to speak for a moment to price discovery. This deals with the inclusion clause, Motion No. 43. The proposed inclusion clause would allow the mechanism to fundamentally change the price discovery process and reduce the relevance of the grain purchasing price setting mechanism. I will use canola as an example. It has been raised in the House and everyone is familiar with that product.
The Winnipeg Commodity Exchange canola contract provides a price reference and an effective hedging tool for producers, grain merchandisers, exports, importers and processors both domestically and internationally. They have a choice. They have to decide when they market canola how they will do it.
Therefore the futures price for canola, and this could read wheat or barley, either way, reflects the world price of canola. This function of a commodity exchange provides for an effective and efficient way to discover prices, to hedge those prices and to transfer price risk.
What am I talking about? I am talking about a major Canadian business, for example a $1 million farm or a $500,000 farm on the prairies, making decisions in their corporate or personal best interest. They need to maximize the profits they can make for their farms.
The proposed inclusion clause, if used to grant authority over canola, would allow for price discovery process supporting the canola contract to change from an open market system to a closed regulated system and eliminate the relevance of the contract as an international pricing and risk marketing tool.
I ask members of the NDP and the Liberals whether this is what they want. I think they do because this is the bill they have put forward. They do not want a true price discovery mechanism to be in place. By not having access to what actually is happening in the Canadian Wheat Board as to pricing and so on, it looks to me like they are trying to keep the whole thing kind of hidden, kind of secret, so that the true price for grain is never determined. The farmer takes what he gets, according to what the wheat board wants to give him.
I could continue to speak about the wheat board and the impact it has on demurrage costs and a lot of other things, but I think I have made the basic points as to why farmers have to have choice. It is their pocketbooks we are talking about. They should be able to sell their grain to whom they want, whether through the wheat board or privately.
I do not support Bill C-4. I support a wheat board for the farmers who want to be in it.