Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Malpeque on making this motion in the House. Hon. members know that the Bloc Québécois supported the motion in committee. Of course, we will do the same now that the motion is before this House.
I would like to tell the member that as recently as yesterday—because the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is meeting here at present—I met again with a number of farmers from western Canada, who are very concerned about what is happening to the Canadian Wheat Board.
We know that the Conservatives decided long ago, even when they were the Canadian Alliance, that the Canadian Wheat Board as we know it today was finished and that the single desk model was not for them. This is an ideology that the Prime Minister obviously shares, because when he was in the Canadian Alliance, he himself made a motion in 2002.
The last election campaign showed us that the Conservative Party had taken up where the Alliance left off. The government set up a task force and only hired or offered positions to opponents of the Canadian Wheat Board. There was the famous ministerial order to muzzle the people at the Wheat Board and prevent them from defending themselves. There was Bill C-300 and, finally, the dismissal of Mr. Measner, the former CEO.
I would like to ask the member what he thinks of the following statement, which comes from a press release issued by the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec and refers to the federal government's stubborn determination to weaken the collective tool that is the Canadian Wheat Board. This is what the Union des producteurs agricoles du Québec said: “Is this stubborn determination...not consistent with certain statements by the government spokesperson...who, just before Christmas, questioned the future of collective marketing and supply management in Canada?” This is referring to the statements made by the Minister of International Trade.
Does the hon. member believe that people in western and eastern Canada should be concerned about what the government is doing?