Mr. Speaker, I tried to get up on a point of order and I might even have been out of order.
I do seriously believe that the allegation the member made is very serious and very wrong. I believe his heart is certainly in the right place in terms of fighting for farmers in the farm community, and I think he sees some good points in the Canadian Wheat Board as well. Probably he is not as in favour of it as I am, but he knows there are some very good points.
To accuse the Government of Canada of asking the Farm Credit Corporation, a crown corporation which operates with its own mandate, to push a farmer against the wall financially is a wrong allegation. I would ask the member if he has information to back up that allegation to table it. He is seriously wrong on that point.
The member raised the issue of salaries. The Canadian Wheat Board is a major $6 billion operation. It maximizes returns to producers. It is the paramount selling agency for producers around the world. It is a model which we should be emulating in other industries. I would ask the member what he sees as a legitimate level for administration expenses, including the salaries of board members.
The fact of the matter is that in 1995-96 in the pool accounts the administration expenses of the Canadian Wheat Board on $5.8 billion worth of sales were only .7%. That is a very efficiently run operation. To pull out figures like he is doing is absolutely going with the kind of rhetoric which Reform tends to go with.
What level does the member see as being efficient?