Mr. Speaker, nor does the government have anything but contempt for the democratic process when it comes to allowing western grain producers the right to decide the future of the Canadian Wheat Board.
With respect to supply management, the government demonstrated what can only be contempt for, one, its campaign promise and, two, contempt for those primary producers involved in the dairy industry saying that it supports the industry but is not really supporting the report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food that was tabled in the House which was support for the industry.
Worse yet, the government came in talking about free votes and, by the look of the pinched faces on the members opposite, they were basically whipped into the position of supporting the government in terms of opposing the resolution of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Three, I think we will eventually see that there will be contempt from the majority of the members of the House if the government fails to act on the vote taken in the House on June 13.
As I said a moment ago, the Prime Minister promised free votes during the election campaign and on Tuesday we saw anything but that from the Conservative Party of Canada.
On point two, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food said that he and the government strongly supported supply management and yet when it came to voting the Conservatives turned against farmers and voted in the opposite direction.
On point three, the vote against defending our dairy producers was bad enough but, to compound that contempt for our producers, the minister attempted to belittle the report and recommendations in a motion supported by the majority of members of the House and flatly refused to do what the House had in fact ordered.
On the issue of the Canadian Wheat Board, the government has given every indication, through testimony at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, that it does not intend to hold a plebiscite on a direct question as to whether western grain farmers support the single desk selling feature of the board or not.
At committee the parliamentary secretary to the minister, in a similar fashion to the minister, refused to state that the government would allow for such a vote, a vote that is prescribed under the Canadian Wheat Board Act and a vote that would allow all producers holding a permit book to express their support or opposition to the single desk selling role of the board.