Mr. Speaker, the debate tonight was caused by the minister's lack of an answer to a question I raised on February 4. The question was what involvement, directly or indirectly, the minister and/or the Prime Minister had in the firing of the Canadian Wheat Board's vice-president of farmer relations and public affairs, Deanna Allan. I did not get any answers then. Maybe the parliamentary secretary will be a little more forthcoming and a little more honest tonight.
This firing is on top of many other undemocratic acts fostered by the Prime Minister's ideological attack on the Canadian Wheat Board. It is shameful the kind of undemocratic actions that the Prime Minister is taking toward the Canadian Wheat Board.
It is important to put the Wheat Board into perspective on what it is not. The government goes to great lengths to try and leave the impression that the Canadian Wheat Board is some entity out there, a crown corporation or whatever, when it really is not. It is run by an elected board of directors of farmers, who has challenged the Prime Minister, and we know he does not like to be challenged.
I will explain what the Wheat Board is not. Judge Hansen, in her judgment on July 31, 2007, said this as background:
The CWB is a corporation without share capital...The CWB is not an agent of Her Majesty the Queen, nor is it a crown corporation.
I lay that out so people understand what the Canadian Wheat Board is not. Therefore, why is the government trying to treat it like it is an entity of government? It operates under government legislation and is managed by a board of directors elected by producers.
As I indicated, this was not the first firing. The CEO was fired for taking his direction from the elected board of directors and for standing up to the Prime Minister. There were three directors fired and new directors were appointed basically for their ideological dislike for the board. In fact, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food had rejected one of those directors, but the Prime Minister showed contempt for that decision as well.
All along there have been gag orders placed on the board. The government has tried to manipulate the election of directors. The government struck 16,000 farmers off the voters list in the middle of an election. Never before in Canada have we seen such undemocratic activities by a government against a segment of the population. In this case, it is grain producers, elected directors to the board, and the Prime Minister does not like them at all.
The history on this goes back a long way. It goes back to when the current Prime Minister was crusading against the Canadian Wheat Board since his days as chairman of the National Citizens' Coalition. His beliefs are held just as deeply today.
After the Federal Court ruling on his government's attempt to circumvent the law and make changes to barley marketing by changing the regulations, he was rejected by the courts. The Prime Minister came out of his party's caucus meeting and said that he was going to get the Wheat Board one way or another. It is undemocratic.