Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Wheat Board would be operating in an open market system because it would be a voluntary cooperative, accessing grain through contracts and selling at the same as anybody else in a free enterprise system.
The Canadian Alliance policy since 1989 very clearly has been to have a voluntary marketing system in all agriculture commodities, including wheat and barley. Farmers never did vote to have a monopoly. That was imposed upon them by politicians.
The member from the NDP talks about philosophies and policies. The NDP is strong on human rights. Why is a farmer denied the human right to sell the fruits of his own labour after doing all the investment? Do the human rights of an individual farmer to do the best for himself not override a group of farmers who want to impose something on him that is negative to his economic well-being?