House of Commons Hansard #52 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was farmers.

Topics

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Of course, Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand here on behalf of the farmers from my constituency and from western Canada who gave us a strong majority mandate on May 2.

We campaigned openly on this in a number of campaigns and no less in the last election in the spring.

We got direction from the farm groups in western Canada who stand with us and were at the symposium last night, as well as three out of the four provinces that are involved in the Canadian Wheat Board area.

With the exception of Manitoba, which has about 10% of the Wheat Board crops, the other provinces stand with us, so I am not doing this arbitrarily.

I believe in democracy. We saw democracy in action on May 2. We are seeing democracy in action here. We will all have a vote on this later today. Members opposite are more than happy and more than willing to stand up and vote against this should they so desire. At the same time, they will have to explain to western Canadian farmers why they want to pick and choose and allow certain farmers to market a certain way and not others. I cannot understand that conundrum.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Matthew Kellway NDP Beaches—East York, ON

Madam Speaker, were this just about Bill C-18 and this one time, that would be harmful enough to democracy and offensive enough to the democratic tradition of this institution and this country, but when the Liberal government previously had an addiction to closure, the members across the way were most offended by that practice. The Minister of Public Safety said most expressively at the time:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister of Canada swung an axe across the throat of parliament. While committee members had an opportunity to speak to Bill C-36, members of all parties in parliament lost the ability to express the concerns of Canadians.

If the bill was the right thing to do, why did the Prime Minister do the wrong thing by invoking closure?

I return that question to the government. If it is doing the right thing, why does it keep invoking closure?

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Madam Speaker, I have no idea what piece of legislation the member opposite is talking about.

In this case, what we owe western Canadian farmers, the industry in western Canada, shippers and everybody else is certainty and clarity as to what is going to happen.

We have a lot of international marketplaces that are watching this with quite a bit of interest. I have had calls from buyers around the world asking if they will still have access to the top quality and consistency of Canadian grain. My answer is simple, absolutely. It is farmers in western Canada who provide that quality and that consistency, not the Wheat Board.

The Wheat Board has been a selling agent. That is all. It has actually been a buying agent, not even a selling agent. The vast majority of the slippage that we have seen in wheat, durum and barley is because of the single desk. Farmers cannot make a good return on that, so they have stopped growing it. We need to reinvigorate that. We need to get that back into our rotations, and continue to feed a growing and hungry world.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB

Mr. Speaker, I happen to represent a significant number of wheat and barley farmers, and they are very concerned.

As a matter of fact I returned to the office the other day, and there was a message from Gary. The message was simply to please call Gary; he is upset about the Canadian Wheat Board.

I called him. I assumed he was going to be frustrated about a whole host of things. I was curious as to what his opinion was with regard to the changes at the Canadian Wheat Board. He said that we had talked about the Canadian Wheat Board some time ago. I said that I was sure that we did. He asked, “Why are you giving the Canadian Wheat Board another eight months to limit my freedom?”

It is important that the minister clarify why it is important that this be an orderly transition, and that we give certainty not only to the markets but also to people like Gary so that he can make decisions with regard to the next number of months as he plans his crop rotations for the coming year.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Madam Speaker, the existing Canadian Wheat Board will stay in play until August 1, 2012. That is the right time to make the transition to the free market.

What will happen at that point is we will actually have the existing Canadian Wheat Board winding down its operations, still able to sell, still able to fill marketplaces, should it so desire. The new entity, the optional entity, will be spooling up, contracting, offering futures, moving forward, making sure it has farmers' grain to market and fulfill that great Canadian brand that is out there all over the world.

At the same time industry will be ratcheting up its buying power and moving forward. This is great. We will have more than one person bidding on our grain. There will be a number of them. What that does is it drives the price up.

The quality and consistency are still there, guaranteed by the farmer. Now we are going to have other people bidding to sell our product. That is only going to take things higher. That is great.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Pierre-Luc Dusseault NDP Sherbrooke, QC

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak about another time allocation motion introduced by the Conservative government.

In the past, the Conservatives were very angry when the Liberals did the same thing. However, now that they are in power, the Conservatives are doing it just as much as the Liberals did before them. I would like to quote the current Prime Minister who, at that time, said:

I fear the longer I am here the reason it does some of this is it really ultimately wants to rush committee stage of these bills.

Committee stage is where the public and affected interests get to express their views on the bill to indicate where amendments should be made and where parliamentarians and other expert witnesses are able to go over the clause by clause of a bill to suggest...amendments.

That is what we have been wanting to do for a long time, and I think it is a shame that the government is once again trying to move things too quickly. We agree that Parliament must act but the members who represent their ridings must also be given time to speak and make suggestions.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Madam Speaker, what I find perplexing is no one has the inability to speak. We all have that ability.

We have an opportunity here where the minister of the day is before the House of Commons for 30 minutes. Members can ask questions and make comments, keeping them short and precise, and all they can do is complain about procedure and process.

The procedure and the process that we are going to put in place is to make sure there is certainty and clarity in the grain industry in western Canada. We are going to put this legislation through. We are going to get it through in a timely fashion to give that certainty and clarity to the complete industry, right from the farm gate on through to loading it on the ships and getting that top-quality product out there in the world.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

NDP

Marc-André Morin NDP Laurentides—Labelle, QC

Mr. Speaker, the question I have to ask myself about this government is how can it always be so sure that it is right? Personally, I think there is a problem when someone is always sure that they are right. That is a common characteristic of all dictators throughout history. Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and Stalin come to mind. I could name others, but it might become a little insulting.

These people were always convinced that they were right. They could not tolerate any discussion or criticism. If the Conservatives admire these people, they should look closely at their history. They would soon see that Alexander the Great was not so great, not even in height, for he was five foot three. When his lover died, he allegedly drank himself to death.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Madam Speaker, it sounds like it sucks to be Alexander the Great and Andron. It is just a bad combination, and one is going to fall down.

We are talking about ensuring that western Canadian farmers have the clarity and certainty they require to plant the crops they are going to need, ensuring they have the ability to market those crops at the time, place and price of their choosing so they can build their own solid business case and their bottom line. They have proven to us over and over that they can do that with other commodities like canola.

What convinced us that we were on the right track was campaigning hard on this. We had a general election on May 2. Canadians sent us back to this place with certain issues they wanted covered. One of them was to move away from the single desk of the Canadian Wheat Board, move to it as an optional entity to ensure it was there for farmers who wanted to continue to use it.

The address will stay the same. The appointed directors will stay the same for continuity. The Wheat Board will continue to offer marketing for those farmers who choose to use it. Those farmers who do not want to use that single desk, who feel they are held back by it, who want to value-add to their product or market it in their own way will be able to do that too. It is the best of all worlds.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the hon. minister, the motion before us is not a question period for the minister on the substance of the bill. It is a motion to limit debate. My comments, like those of other hon. members, are to that subject.

When I first started to come to this place, it was a great privilege to see sitting at that table an honorary table officer, Stanley Knowles, who served in the House and was a great parliamentarian. He said in 1965:

The whole study of parliamentary procedure over the years, indeed over the decades, has been an endeavour to find a balance between the right to speak at as much length as seems desirable, and the right of parliament to make decisions.

I suggest that hon. members on the government benches have not struck the right balance, that when you invoke closure and time on debate over and over again, you lose legitimacy not only in the eyes of the opposition parties, but in the eyes of those people who elected them as members of Parliament.

I ask them to please allow proper debate on the bill.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

I would ask all hon. members to direct their comments through the Chair.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Madam Speaker, we have done just that. I have not heard anything different in the last 10 minutes, the last 10 days, the last 10 weeks, the last 10 months, the last 10 years on the debate around the Canadian Wheat Board.

We are following the mandate that we were given on May 2 to come here and use whatever parliamentary means, which we are doing, to ensure this would get through the House and move on in a timely way to give clarity and certainty to the complete industry in western Canada.

That is exactly what we were sent here to do and that is exactly what we will do.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Merrifield Conservative Yellowhead, AB

Madam Speaker, the questions from my hon. colleagues across the way concern debate on the closure motion. That is what we are debating right now.

For the information of members, I had the privilege of serving on the legislative committee on the Wheat Board. Time was allocated to the committee. There were 64 clauses. If opposition members wished to debate any of the amendments that were put forward, they were allowed to debate them. The time was allocated and we did not use up all of the time. Why not? Because there were not enough amendments to utilize all of the time. That drives right to the question.

This legislation is important to farmers. It is not about destroying the Wheat Board; it about allowing farmers an option. They would have the pool option or an alternative option. We will not throw them in jail just because they move their product to an alternative source. I wonder if the—

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Agriculture.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

The member for Yellowhead is absolutely right, Madam Speaker. Farmers will still have the option of a Wheat Board. It will still be at the same address and it will probably still have some of the same marketers, analysts and sellers that it has had all along to create the continuity.

It has a tremendous brand and the brand is based on the quality and consistency that farmers supply to all of the entities that sell the product. The Wheat Board has slid dramatically backward in the last few years. We are down to less than 15% of the global demand. We used to be above 25%. We have lost that, but what we have maintained is the brand, the quality and consistency that only Canada can supply.

We need more of that. We need more options. Some of the number one buyers from the Canadian Wheat Board, flour mills like Warburtons in Britain, have asked us, now that we are getting rid of the single desk, if it will be less prescriptive and if they can try some different menus and ways of grinding, and we are saying absolutely. We have tagged them out with Earl Geddes at CIGI and we will start to move more product to Warburtons.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC

Madam Speaker, I am trying to understand why this government is so anxious to end this debate. I consider myself to be a reasonable person, as are the majority of my colleagues. Either the Conservatives are concerned that Canadians might change their opinions at some point if we continue to debate and that things will change for this government, or they are so anxious to make this happen for their constituents, in their specific situation, that they are trampling on the democratic rights of the representatives of every other citizen in Canada.

I do not understand why their tune has changed either. The Minister of Public Safety said—

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but I have to give the minister time to answer the question.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Endless debate accomplishes nothing, Madam Speaker. People watching this are concerned that we are wasting valuable time when there are other pieces of legislation that need to be moved forward. I know in the member's riding of Pontiac people are concerned about Bill C-10. They want to see that moved forward. They want to see an end to the long gun registry. They want to see those bills back before the House.

What we are doing is expeditiously moving forward legislation to give certainty and clarity to western Canadian farmers. I know the member for Pontiac supports farmers in his riding and I hope he will do the same for the farmers in mine.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL

Madam Speaker, the minister talked about the single desk. There seems to be a philosophical ideological twist against the idea of single desk. Speaking of which, would he recommend to his cabinet colleagues that the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans get rid of the single desk at the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation in Manitoba?

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, the great. It is a tremendous question.

Absolutely. The provinces themselves are railing against that. Saskatchewan has asked for an opt out of the freshwater fish. It is planning to exercise that early next year. The provinces support moving toward open marketing, whether it is the Freshwater Fish Marketing Board or the Canadian Wheat Board. The Saskatchewan government stands with us, looking toward building a future for the fishers and farmers of Saskatchewan. I am proud to represent them.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Random—Burin—St. George's, Fisheries and Oceans; the hon. member for Malpeque, Foreign Affairs.

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Bill C-18--Time Allocation MotionMarketing Freedom for Grain FarmersGovernment Orders

4:05 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

All those opposed will please say nay.