Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. Farmers are looking for some options or alternatives in addition to some short term help to get them through the present situation which has seen their incomes drop so drastically through no fault of their own. That is certainly one area.
Ironically enough, there are government policies in place in Canada that pit one area against another, and the way the Canadian Wheat Board operates in western Canada is one of them. I have had personal experience with that.
My brother and I operated a 3,000 acre grain farm in the Peace River country. For a few years we tried to market our own grain on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. We used to truck the grain over there ourselves. After doing some research, we found out there were small areas of British Columbia on the other side of the Rocky Mountains that were outside of the Canadian Wheat Board area which got to sell their wheat directly to milling companies. They had the advantage of the domestic price which was considerably higher than what the Canadian Wheat Board would pay. Yet if we tried to do that with our wheat and trucked it down at our own expense, it would be illegal and we could be fined and charged.
That is one area in which the government can look at making some changes. We have certainly advocated that for some time. Yet we see the government is unwilling to give farmers the tools they need to help themselves. That is why it is ironic that the member for Chatham—Kent Essex was adamant in talking about giving the industry and producers the tools to do the job. In so many ways the government has proven to be reluctant to do that.