Thank you.
This bill will create even more inequities. That is the point I am trying to make. I do not understand why this government does not trust farmers to make their own decisions and manage their own affairs.
The minister keeps saying the amendments put forward will put the Canadian Wheat Board at risk. If farmers who have to live with it want these amendments, why does the government not approve them? It is their money. It is their property, is it not?
That brings me to the second main point I would like to make in this small length of time the government has given me to talk. My question is: Whose grain is it? Who has taken the risks to grow it?
Mr. Speaker, you may not be aware, but I have introduced a bill in Parliament to strengthen property rights. I feel that is a fundamental issue and it is going to be the thing that is going to eventually destroy this board because of Bill C-4. Farmers are getting tired of having to hand their grain over to the board and then if they want it they have to buy it back. That is happening in Canada. Mr. Speaker, you look at little doubtful about that. It is happening in this country. Really it is.
The farmers take all the risks. They grow the grain, they have all the input costs and when they harvest the grain they cannot own it. They have to turn it over to the board if it is wheat and barley and is grown in one of the three provinces. If it is grown in Saskatchewan, Alberta or Manitoba they do not own that grain. If it was grown someplace else, in certain regions of British Columbia, they could own it. But they cannot own it if it is grown in certain districts.
The farmers cannot own their own grain. They have to turn it over to the board and if they want it they have to buy it back. Of course they cannot buy it back for the same price. They have to pay a much higher price because the board does not want them to make that profit.
Section 1(a) of the Canadian Bill of Rights says every individual, including prairie farmers, has the right to life, liberty, security of the person and the enjoyment of property and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law. This government is breaking that right. It is removing it from farmers. It is depriving them of the enjoyment of their property.
It is not just on wheat and barley. Because farmers cannot control that, it devalues their land. I will not go into the explanation of how it does that but if you are growing a product and you cannot reap the full benefits of that product, you actually devalue the land on which it is being produced. That is happening in the prairies today.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 17 says everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. It is wrong for this government to arbitrarily deprive farmers in only three provinces of their property and only in a narrow area.
I have heard members opposite argue that they do not have to grow wheat and barley. What a display of ignorance. You have to know what the economy of the prairies is. You have to know something about crop rotation. You have to know that the options these farmers have are very limited and they have no choice. And this government takes away even the choice that they do have and would like to have. Even the United Nations says it is wrong. It is despicable that the federal government used lawyers and its power to override property rights on the prairies.
In this last minute I would like to appeal to the people of Canada, our city cousins who may be listening to this and do not understand the problems that are being experienced by a few people on the prairies and how this government is running roughshod. These farmers are not crying for separation. They are not saying “We do not want to be part of Canada”. All they are saying is “We want to control our property”. That is what they are asking for.
I appeal to the people in all the other constituencies in Canada to listen to this debate today and help us out. We cannot do anything because we do not have representatives in government. We do not have the power to change this and so we need the help of the Canadian people.
I have much more that needs to be said about the property rights issue. Could I get unanimous consent to finish my speech? I realize the government has imposed time allocation.