Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that I referred to the convenient absence of the minister.
I asked the minister and I asked the chairman of the committee how much opposition to Bill C-4 there would have to be before the government would withdraw the bill. They never answered that question.
The opposition out there in the three prairie provinces is horrific. I have already stated that and I will not go into it. During the Christmas break and before, I asked farmers what they would like to see done. The minister has given the impression that there are two sides in this debate and they cannot be brought together. That is blatantly false. I went to the farmers and the farmers talked among themselves.
The farmers discussed the issue and came back to me with suggestions. Members know what I did with those suggestions. There was quite an internal kerfuffle in this House for me to get them drawn up and not simply have them sent to clerks. I went through all that and I had those amendments properly drawn up, which the majority of farmers agreed on.
I took the amendments back to the farmers and gave them several weeks to consider them. They went over them and I have already related the support there was for those amendments.
For the mandate of the board to be to maximize profits rather than orderly marketing, there was 97% support. And the minister said that they really do not know what they are thinking, that they do not know what they are talking about, that they are just farmers off in the prairies. How arrogant, how undemocratic can someone be, to ignore what these farmers want? The farmers were willing to allow for a five year opt out clause. In fact the support was 83%.
The minister said that both sides could not be brought together. How come I could do it? How come when I consulted widely I was able to do that in my constituency? How come when the farmers asked for an auditor general to examine the books of the board, I got 86% support for that?
Something is not ringing true in what the minister is saying. He is giving the impression that both sides cannot be brought together. That is blatantly false.
What good has it been for me to work hard and to bring farmers together and to get them to agree? What good has it done? Nothing. I might as well have taken a holiday in Mexico. It would have done as much good because the minister did not listen.
The Canadian Wheat Board minister said that this issue cannot be agreed on. I have proven him wrong. He will not answer the question about who is supporting him. There is virtually nobody. Look at the facts. Producers are opposed to this. But it is not just producers. Public letters from the Canadian Wheat Board Advisory Committee have been put in all papers on the prairies.
The Canadian Wheat Board Advisory Committee is elected by producers to sit on the Canadian Wheat Board and they are opposed to this. What level of opposition is needed? Here there are people who are in the know, who are on the inside of the Canadian Wheat Board structure saying that they do not want Bill C-4. Is it not abhorrent? We might as well all take a vacation in Mexico the way this government listens. It is absolutely ridiculous.
I have a half hour speech that this government is forcing me to make in 10 minutes so I have to go through things very quickly.