Mr. Speaker, given the fact that the government has been sitting on the Estey report for five months now, it is a fairly feeble excuse.
The minister should simply stand up in his place and admit that he and the government have bought the Estey report lock, stock and barrel. They are not only refusing a review of costs, but they are stating that Mr. Estey's report is a compass for the future, a compass, I might add, that is pointed directly at the Canadian Wheat Board.
Why is the minister so eager to emasculate the role of the board and force ever higher grain transportation costs onto the backs of beleaguered prairie farmers?