Mr. Speaker, by golly, if farmers are sitting out there tonight thinking that they are probably not going to get their grain shipped until spring and therefore have no income, they must really be reassured by the lead spokesman for the Government of Canada that they really are still going to sit there until spring with no income, because that is all the member has said tonight.
The parliamentary secretary falls back on this “two million more acres”. Look, Canadians, do not be fooled by that. In 1990, there were nine million more acres seeded than there were last year, so let us not play the numbers game.
My question to the member is quite simple: who is responsible for allocating the grain cars now, so that the grain can get moved?
The member used the diversion of “possibly a strike”. The reality is that Parrish & Heimbecker put in an order for 800 cars last week and they got zero. Roughly 4,500 cars are supposed to be allocated every week, and that was zero. It used to be that the Canadian Wheat Board allocated the cars and took some control over the railway and the grain companies.
My question is who is allocating the cars now? Who is responsible?