Madam Speaker, I believe that Quebec producers have always managed to get their point of view across. They have always had a collective vision when it comes to the development of agriculture in Quebec. True, there is a movement in the prairies, mostly in Alberta, to reject such collective management in favour of a more individual approach.
However, I believe that what led to the creation of the Canadian Wheat Board was precisely this free for all, this fact that agricultural development was taking place without any structured government support, and without any temporary buying and selling power, to resell when the economic situation improved. It is important to remember that this also guaranteed farmers payment at seeding time. I do not understand why we would question these principles that were developed over the past 30 years and return to an individual enterprise. This is a copy of the American system, which is exactly what the Americans want, for us to bend to their ways so that they can flood our country—or rather, our two countries—with their production.
We will never manage to compete with American producers unless we stand together, with an effective marketing system and supply managed planning. It is impossible to compete in North America without this. These marketing agencies must meet international standards. For this reason, we cannot change them overnight, without it having repercussions internationally.