Mr. Speaker, Canadian Wheat Board Chairman Allen Oberg has brought his travelling road show to Ottawa in an effort to silence and deny marketing freedom to western grain farmers.
Mr. Oberg and his directors, aided by opposition MPs, gathered on Parliament Hill today to steamroll those farmers who want freedom. He is doing a great disservice to the farmers he claims to represent by wasting farmers' money on breakfast for the NDP caucus and an unnecessary expensive survey. This is in addition to the $1.4 million being spent on baseless, self-serving ad campaigns and $100,000 wasted on a reckless lawsuit in an attempt to keep their outdated monopoly.
How much more of farmers' money are they willing to risk by wasting time and refusing to work with us in the best interests of farmers? Not only does Parliament have the right to change legislation, our government has the responsibility to deliver on the promises we made to Canadians.
Mr. Oberg and the opposition parties are choosing to punish farmers based on their province of residence. It is time they stop steamrolling farmers and let them market their own grain.