Madam Speaker, the hon. members opposite have raised several issues which deserve comment and question.
One of the points made by the hon. members opposite from the Reform Party was that there are no net benefits gained through single desk selling. Quite frankly, in other industries and other agricultural sectors there are benefits that have accrued above and beyond the wildest imaginations of producers upon the suspension of regulatory marketing and other regulations affecting the industries. The hog industry was used as an example. Producers obtained unbelievable, unsurpassed profits.
One of the points which has to be made is that what the Reform Party is advocating is a move to a complete market based system, one that is in full competition with the Canadian Wheat Board, one that is in full competition with the private sector and operates almost under parallel circumstances to the private sector. In other words, everybody sells to wherever they want.
This is a question that was raised to me while I was travelling in Saskatoon—Humboldt not too long ago. It should have been addressed to the Reform Party. The Canadian Wheat Board and farmers benefit from financial guarantees provided by the government.
They understood that the farmers and producers benefit from the financial guarantees provided by government. These guarantees currently cover initial payments, credit grain sales and the Canadian Wheat Board's general borrowings.
The Reform Party wants the Canadian Wheat Board to compete with private trade. It wants it to act as though it were in the private sector and basically wants farmers to compete 100% in the private sector.
This is the question that was raised to me and I raise it to the hon. member. Would the Reform Party view it as fair to have one enterprise benefiting from special government guarantees competing with the private sector companies which must risk their own capital or would the Reform Party want to see the Canadian Wheat Board and farmers no longer benefit from these guarantees?
That is a specific question and I would really appreciate a specific answer. Does the Reform Party want the Canadian Wheat Board to operate as a private sector enterprise and not have the benefit from unfair competition by federal government guarantees or does it support the Canadian Wheat Board and the federal government's position?