Madam Speaker, here is my concern, which was talked about on the Liberal side in regard to the WTO challenge to the Wheat Board this last time around, a challenge for the 10th or 11th time. Supposedly we won, but it is like the fight in the schoolyard: we should see the other guy.
If we won, why are we forced to put in these almost punitive actions against our own producers? If we won, why are we doing that? Why are we looking at our rail cap other than in a positive way where we really get into the nuts and bolts of it and make it better for producers? Why are we changing our blending programs if that is not to the betterment of our own Canadian producers? On access to markets, if it is not going to benefit my own guys, why would we be doing it if we won the so-called challenge?
It is almost perverse in what we will face after August 1, because these guys did not see this coming. These deals are cut; the Doha round, Qatar and all these different things have gone on for the last number of years. Did they not see this coming? It just flies in the face of logic how they would not be prepared for actions taken by another government, especially the Americans as we thumb them in the eye constantly and kick them in the shins on different issues. Then these guys wonder why this type of thing happens.
We are facing these punitive duties on pork, on beef and on softwood lumber, and it is all because of processing. Once we process the pork and beef and so on, it moves. We have let the capacity in this country go. The government has talked about some measures to kick that open and start it, but one has to apply, get the money, run for two years and go broke, and then the government program kicks in. How twisted is that? There is nothing in there talking about tax incentives. There is nothing in there talking about two lines of processing. We have easily ramped up the 30 months and under cattle processing, but the older cows are still standing in the pastures wondering what is going on. These guys just do not get it. We need two different lines.
We need the Wheat Board out of our face in western Canada so that we can grind our own wheat and our own durum and start to set up a few more malt plants and so on without paying freight and elevation charges to Tidewater.
Let me give an example. As a former farmer, I used to haul our barley to the Biggar malt plant, 40 miles north. We did it with our own trucks and we paid the freight, but when I sold it to the Biggar malt plant 40 miles away I had to pay freight and elevation to Tidewater, Vancouver or Thunder Bay, and it never went there. It never went in an elevator and it never went on a railway, but I had to pay those horrendous charges and still pay the freight to get it there myself.
A friend of mine, Bob Chapel, was running the plant at that time. He said he was forced to work within the Wheat Board umbrella and he said at that point malt barley was at a low of about $2 a bushel. He said that whether it was $2 or $12 it made no difference on the price of his malt; the barley was that small a portion of the whole formula.
There are movements we can make, but with the Wheat Board standing on us we are not allowed to make those changes. I cannot for the life of me understand why western Canadian farmers alone face those restrictions when no other farmer across Canada does. Why are we not allowed the same openness and choices that everybody else has? I cannot for the life of me understand that.
This particular piece of legislation again targets western Canadian farmers far more than anybody else across the country. We have to do due diligence on this and make sure it is done properly.