Mr. Speaker, the first comment I will make is that this week my constituents are raising the question of why is the government, whether it accepts the responsibility or not, putting farmers in jail for selling their own product? In essence this is the message that they see on television.
I have been a member of Parliament since 1997. I know that in the constituency of Dauphin--Swan River the majority of farmers support the Wheat Board. The reason is the history of being a farmer. Most of the people in Dauphin--Swan river are of an older age. They remember the Depression. That is the reason the Wheat Board became a reality.
I would say that the older the farmer, the greater the support for the Wheat Board. The younger farmer tends to move toward choice. Also, the farther the farmer is from the U.S. border, there is a greater tendency to support the Wheat Board.
The reality is that for a small producing country such as Canada to have 20% of the monopoly in the world is quite a feat. However, as my colleague from Brandon—Souris stated, this is 2002 and things do change and farmers do want choice. I am told that farmers want choice in terms of marketing their own product.
As members have said, farmers put in investment dollars. They want to have the choice of where to sell their product. Probably the easiest way around the problem is to give farmers the choice and perhaps peg it with a limited term. If a farmer elected to opt out, then for the next five years the farmer would not be selling under the board.
Farmers are interested in more than just the Wheat Board. They are really interested in what the country is doing about our food industry. When we look at the food industry as a whole, there are a lot of problems that are much bigger than marketing the product. Value added has been mentioned. Rural Canada is losing its population. There are no jobs in rural Canada. All the jobs are moving to the big cities.
That is the position of the people of Dauphin--Swan River.