Mr. Speaker, the member for Lakeland said a few minutes ago that it is an old speech he had from the member for Malpeque. If new content were required for all these speeches we would have been mute on this point about October 15 because there has been nothing new on this debate since about the first week of the debate. It has been downhill every since.
We are here tonight again in part because of the amendments that have been brought forward by the member for Prince George—Peace River. The Senate has pronounced on Bill C-4. Following hearings in western Canada earlier this spring senators have proposed three amendments and made two recommendations.
The process as amended by the Senate has now returned to the House. That the government is introducing it into the House means it approves the bill as amended or that it at least accepts its provisions otherwise it would have chosen not to reintroduce it.
The bill as amended will be debated in a package, one debate, no splitting off to discuss and vote on each amendment separately. There will be one vote only.
If the vote passes, and the government will ensure it does, the bill will then be ready for royal assent. It will not return to the other place for a further vote.
The Senate amendments include the deletion of the existing inclusion and exclusion clause. There remains a mechanism for having the inclusion or exclusion of a grain but the reality is that it leaves the initial decision in the hands of the minister. In the bill's earlier stage the decision to include to exclude would have been triggered by a farm group or groups.
It is one more indication for us that the bill does not do what the minister has been saying constantly that it was going to do which was to put grain farmers in the driver's seat. Every time they get into a narrow corner they say they have to give the control back to the government or in this case the minister. Instead of putting them in the driver's seat, as the minister responsible for the wheat board has been saying, it really puts grain farmers further into the back seat.
The minister has to consult with the board of directors and hold a producer vote on inclusion-exclusion. In addition, parliament will now have to pass specific legislation to include or exclude a grain. We believe that essentially this is a capitulation of the business and the right wing farm lobby which wanted both clauses to be deleted from the bill. It did not really want the exclusion clause deleted, but we are prepared to take that in order to get rid of the inclusion clause.
From our point of view the inclusion clause was one of the only redeeming features of the bill from the point of some wheat board supporters, including the NFU as has been noted by the previous speaker and the wheat board advisory committee.
With regard to point two of the Senate recommendations, the Senate amendments stipulate that the minister consult with the board before appointing a president. The minister did not have to do this under Bill C-4 but said he would have anyway so in reality it is not a big win.
On the auditor general and access to information point, the amendment from the Senate says that within two years of the bill coming into force the auditor general should commence an audit of the corporation. The question of the wheat board's transparency was a big issue for the Reform Party and wheat board opponents. The minister responsible for the board was reluctant to allow the auditor general in but has now obviously agreed.
The senators do not suggest that the board be open to access to information laws. They say the new members of the board will have access to all relevant information and they should decide what is and what is not made public.
In addition to those three Senate amendments there are two recommendations. Of the ten elected members of the board of directors, Saskatchewan would have five, Alberta three and Manitoba two.
Second, the regulations stipulate the contingency fund will be no larger than $30 million. This is a small step in the right direction but the CEO of the wheat board thought that the contingency fund could be as high as $575 million.
Third is that the contingency fund be separated into three accounts defined by their uses, guaranteeing initial payments, providing for losses from pool accounts, and providing for potential losses from cash trading.
The Senate also observed that farmers should vote for directors on a one farmer, one vote basis rather than on the basis of volume of grain delivered, which was a suggestion from the Reform Party last fall. There should be spending limits in elections but the senators came up with no suggestion as to what that should be.
The senators noted the intense and bitter debate around dual marketing. They took no position but said that the new board of directors could make decisions on this in future.
For our part, the federal NDP caucus opposed the bill even with the inclusion clause. We will oppose the bill with these amendments which essentially removes this clause. We would oppose the further recommendations we have heard tonight made by the member for Prince George—Peace River.
Our caucus opposes Bill C-4 because it does undermine the integrity of the wheat board and will continue to undermine farmer confidence in it. We believe farmers cannot afford the contingency fund is in the bill and they do not want it. The senators have accepted the contingency fund although they recommend it be limited to $30 million.
One of the few positive clauses from our point of view was the possibility for the board to either add or delete grains from its mandate. The decision to include or exclude a grain would have been triggered by requests from farm groups but would have required a vote by all the farmers affected.
A coalition that included the Winnipeg Commodities Exchange and other corporate groups lobbied hard against the inclusion clause. To achieve their end they said both inclusion and exclusion should be dropped and the senators have capitulated to this aggressive lobby. In place of a democratic process to include or exclude the senators offer an alternative that would make it almost impossible to ever add a grain or delete one.
The inclusion clause was one of the few redeeming features of Bill C-4 and it has now been gutted. We in this caucus have always been strong supporters of the wheat board because it works in the best interests of farmers. We must work together to make sure that the wheat board has a healthy future.
On this whole business of secrecy about the wheat board I agree very much with the comments made by the member for Malpeque. We are talking about a $6 billion a year operation. I has been accountable to parliament. Parliament has required that an external independent auditor scrutinize the wheat board's books. The auditor is Deloitte & Touche and each year the report is filed with parliament. The last audit I saw was the 1996 audit. That well recognized, well respected accounting company found the wheat board's books to be in fine shape.
It is true that the wheat board is exempt from provisions of the Access to Information Act and we feel that the overriding reason for that is customer confidentiality and the conduct of the wheat board's commercial activities. If customers big and small cannot be assured that their business dealings with the board are held in confidence they will go elsewhere with their business.
It is interesting that the same groups that frequently claim that the wheat board does not get a good enough price for grain would now like to undercut the board's ability to do just that.
The Canadian Wheat Board is probably the best grain marketing organization in the world and it has served western farmers well for more than 60 years. It is a great Canadian success story and it is accountable to the people of Canada through parliament and through an external audit.
We in this caucus have always supported the wheat board because we believe, as I have said, that it works in the best interests of farmers. We oppose Bill C-4 because it is flawed legislation and will only serve to undermine the board.
Reform opposes Bill C-4 because Reformers do not think it goes far enough, quickly enough to destroy the board faster. We are not in support of Bill C-4 and we are certainly not in support of the amendments presented tonight.