Mr. Speaker, thank you. It is late not only in this sitting but in the evening. As hon. members across the way have suggested that perhaps I should give it to the hon. member for Prince George—Peace River, the only thing I will give the hon. member is marks for perseverance. I will give him marks for putting together an amendment that has been discussed ad infinitum at the committee level as well as in this august Chamber. It is an amendment that would make the legislation better.
I had the opportunity to speak to the Senate amendments. I spoke in favour and somewhat reluctantly to the Senate amendments. Frankly, a lot of the amendments put forward by the Senate were debated and discussed among the opposition members during committee. I give the Senate credit for being able to put a better piece of legislation forward. It is not the best piece of legislation by any stretch of the imagination but it is a better piece of legislation because it deals with a number of very sensitive areas. It has assisted in putting forward some not terribly major or substantive changes but minor changes that would assist in this piece of legislation.
As we all recognize, the government is the government and it will pass this legislation in some fashion. It is unfortunately a fashion that will not solve any of the problems in western Canada. When the legislation passes it will probably exacerbate the issues and the problems now faced by western Canadian producers.
In fact I would suspect that with the faces in the House now, it may well mean we will be dealing with this legislation before the 36th parliament is adjourned for good. I think it will come back before the House within the next three years.
I want to speak to the amendments that were put forward. The Progressive Conservative Party will be supportive of the amendments that were put forward for the simple reason that we have in general terms put these amendments forward ourselves in the House and certainly at committee.
The first amendment, which is the president appointed by the board, is not a new amendment. That has been discussed ad infinitum and is the right way to perform governance in any corporation. When the CEO and president is responsible for the board of directors, it is an organization that is accountable. When the CEO is appointed by a third party then there is no accountability by the board of directors to that individual and quite frankly, the responsibility and accountability of that individual is compromised.
I am glad that I finally have an audience. It is nice to see, after a little bit of a faux pas, that the whip of the Liberal Party does have a bigger whip now than he perhaps had previously.
The second amendment is with respect to the auditor general but it is not something new. This particular amendment was put forward previously. The auditor general is the check and balance that the public have, but in this particular case it is a check and balance that the owners of the Canadian Wheat Board, who are the producers, want. We are continually told that the ownership of the Canadian Wheat Board is the producers but unfortunately the producers do not have the opportunity of actually finding out what it is they do own and how the Canadian Wheat Board is being operated.
The Senate amendment that came forward is a better change to the act than there was previously. Now at least the government has agreed that the auditor general should play a role in the Canadian Wheat Board. However, it did not go far enough. I spoke to this and the amendment does take it to another level which is a much better level.
The auditor general should have the opportunity and right to audit the Canadian Wheat Board. The Canadian public and the owners of the Canadian Wheat Board, the producers, should have a right to have access to what the auditor general says.
The auditor general goes into government departments and tells them they are doing the job wrong and tells them how they can do the job better. It is an operational audit, not just a financial balance sheet audit which producers are now receiving from the Canadian Wheat Board.
The amendment is a legitimate and solid amendment. It would make that particular organization much more accountable to the people who own the organization, the farmers.
We have discussed inclusion and exclusion ad nauseam, not just ad infinitum, that this is the most dangerous clause in this particular piece of legislation. I stand on record in this House in saying that if the government got rid of the inclusion clause, we would reluctantly accept the legislation that came forward.
With the Senate change to the inclusion clause, which is a minor change, it does have a protection and a check and balance. It always deals with plebiscite even in the original legislation. However, this now says that it is not just simply a decision of a minister, of the board of directors, the plebiscite, but the final resolution will have to come back to this House and be passed as legislation.
I can assure members that if there was a piece of legislation that hit the floor of this House that was going to include another commodity in the Canadian Wheat Board, there would be riots in the streets in western Canada. The producers would not allow themselves to be put in a position where they were forced to sell other commodities on a non-voluntary basis through the Canadian Wheat Board.
This is a good amendment and I congratulate the member from Peace River. It is a good amendment where it states that no inclusion clause should take place until producer participation in the Canadian Wheat Board is voluntary. It makes sense. We should not add any more commodities until it is a voluntary organization. However, add the commodities when it does become voluntary so that the organization can compete on a fair market basis with other competitors that are in the marketplace right now. It makes sense.
I hate to say it, it is the first time that the hon. member has really made sense with the four very good amendments. However, we will support the amendments as put forward. Unfortunately I believe, and I am sure the hon. member from Peace River also agrees, that these amendments, although very logical and will make a better piece of legislation, will not be approved. It is very difficult to stand and say that because they would make it better they are still not going to be approved by this government.
For the life of me, I do not know why the government will not approve these amendments. It will not. A couple of members over there are going to speak to it. They will tell us exactly why it is such terrible thing to give people a choice; it is a terrible thing to make an organization accountable; it is a terrible thing that the chief executive officer should be responsible to the board of directors. They are going to tell us why it is so awful to do that.
I am sorry that these amendments will not go any further than the vote tomorrow. These amendments, which have been tabled by almost every member of the opposition with the exception of the NDP, will come back to this House. We may not be here to deal with them, but they will come back because this legislation is flawed. It is not going to solve the problems that are out there in the marketplace. It is going to exacerbate the problem. The day after this legislation is proclaimed we are still going to have the problems that exist today.
In saying that, I will also say that with the Senate amendments and the legislation that will come forward, reluctantly we will support Bill C-4. I would much prefer to have it supported as amended but unfortunately, I do not think that is not going to happen.
This has been a very useful exercise. I know the hon. member from Peace River has given us the process, as have a number of other speakers, as to how this legislation got to the floor of this House. Even in that, I am a little disappointed that the government did not listen more to the producers that this affects.