Mr. Speaker, my colleague raises these very important issues and accountability is certainly one of them. As we all know, the auditor general does more than just balance the books. He also looks at whether the Canadian taxpayer is getting value for his dollar, is the organization strong and properly run.
The auditor general has a wider scope in doing the audits and I agree 100% with what my hon. colleague said.
Then we have this smoke and mirrors thing with the board. There are some elected members and some appointed members. It is wonderful for the farmers to be able to elect some of their members but it should be, as has been mentioned by my colleague and also is contained in one of the subamendments, the prerogative of an elected board to choose its CEO. It should not be a political thing again from distant Ottawa.
I believe very strongly that western farmers are well able to run their own organization. They are well able to hold it accountable. There is no reason in the world why that board cannot have the primary say, the initiation of the choice of the CEO.