Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for a real and substantive question. Yes, the changes to the Canada Grain Act were proposed without consultation and will have a significant impact on grain producers. Clearly, it should have been a separate bill sent to the agriculture committee. Witnesses could have been heard, questions asked by parliamentarians and the result, hopefully, would have been a bill and, ultimately, a law that grain producers and MPs of all parties could have supported.
The reason New Democrats have been so tough in opposing this legislation is that the government has refused to allow that process and has denied democratic opportunity for MPs elected to represent their communities. Neither the grain producers nor the MPs from rural areas have been heard on this.