Mr. Speaker, prairie farmers and producers will gather in Saskatoon on Thursday to tell their MPs what is wrong with the government's agricultural policies. At the Saskatchewan Forum on Agricultural Issues, hundreds of farmers will present the minister responsible for the wheat board with their grievances which include grain transportation and amendments to the wheat board act.
The Reform Party, speaking on behalf of grain farmers, has repeatedly protested the recent changes to the wheat board act, only to have our farmer driven amendments overruled. Farmers deserve a wheat board that is accountable through the Access to Information Act and is audited by the auditor general. These and other flaws in the Liberal agricultural strategy will be raised by the farmers themselves.
We invite the minister to hear these concerns as he is the only prairie based minister. We urge him to keep an open mind and to evaluate what he hears based on merit. We ask that he respond to this call for change to make the wheat board open, flexible and accountable.