I hear members across the way hollering about the auditor general. I am surprised they even know who he is. They never pay attention to what he says. We can name lots of things there, but I will not get on that topic.
I get a little concerned when I hear my colleague talking about things that have happened in the wheat board regarding changes from orders in council. Once again there are a selected few, usually the ones on the front row here, who decide for all of Canadian farmers what is best for them.
It does not matter if it is best for them but if they think it is best for them, that is what counts. We have a history of 30 or 40 years of this happening; we know what is best for the people, we will make the decisions and you just never mind. That is the attitude people are beginning to think we have.
The ability to have an open debate and throw things out on the floor the farmers would like us to do regarding the wheat board only makes sense. The trouble is we spend a lot of time and many of these things could be resolved. I hope a lot of these things are talked about in the agriculture standing committee. I know from serving on the justice committee there are hours talking with witnesses.
I assume the same thing happens in the agriculture committee where its members get the feelings of people, giving them an opportunity to reflect those feelings in the form of a bill and bring it before the House for a good debate; unless they decide there is no reason to debate and they should put closure on it, shut it down to six hours or in the case of pensions four hours and forget the whole thing. They may feel the information fed to them by 60 or 70 witnesses is not important enough to bring in here, after all they are only the taxpayers.
It is the attitude that bothers me and I think it needs to change. We have been asking, hoping and watching for that possibility but instead we get more of the same, an example of which we saw this morning.
Regarding changing the shipping point calculations, when Wild Rose business tells us it cannot ship its product, there are some things we need to talk about with regard to bills. Compressed timothy producers tell me they cannot get containers to ship their product. Why is the government not addressing shipping problems to help Canada's balance of trade? Why is it not assisting a cash crop market instead of maintaining a narrow view of one issue?
It is willing to help grain producers adjust to the new reality of shipping costs when the Crow is repealed. Farmers who have practised sound crop rotation principles and at the same time have developed a new cash crop market for Canadian produce are being abandoned. Compressed timothy and forage crop producers are far more sensitive to shipping costs than grain producers but the government has punished them for growing a crop that is not marketed through the wheat board. Then it wonders why some farmers get upset at the way the board operates.
Not too long ago this body of people declared an open barley market, the continental barley market. Suddenly there were many farmers doing a good job of moving their produce, getting good prices. They were quite pleased they had an opportunity as producers to market their goods without having to go through a
monopoly. That was quickly shut down. We sometimes wonder why.
Maybe it was because they were so successful, maybe they were proving they had the ability to do these things without the assistance of some great government appointed body. Maybe it was not the bureaucrats who had the ability to so these things; maybe the farmers could do this. At least they proved it for a while but the Liberal government cannot let that go on. So it was shut down. It simply tells people out there that if they grow certain crops they will go through this body by way of the arm's length setup of the wheat board to sell produce. That is the way it has to be done.
Some farmers agree with it and I give them credit for it. However a pile of them say that the wheat board should be scrapped. We need to talk to all of them and start asking exactly what we can do to make the situation a lot better than it is.
The bill is another example of half measures by government trying to convince Canadian farm producers that it is doing something when I am not so sure it might be making things worse. The Liberal government seems intent on abandoning farmers who have already adjusted to the global marketplace. I am talking particularly about forage and timothy hay growers who are doing very well.
It is certainly strange when we meet with farmers in our communities. We tell cattlemen in a joking way what is coming down the tube, that we are setting up a cattle marketing board. Talk about shock and fear, the whole idea another system of that nature would interfere with their ability to access free markets such as they have now really frightens them.
Why did the government arbitrarily decide that 1994 would be the cutoff year for support when producers were adjusting to the new global trading reality and when they went into forage and timothy to enhance their individual viability in the world trading market? Does the government have a problem with farmer initiative? Is it because the government wants to keep the Canadian Wheat Board as a closed shop, a patronage haven? It also wants to dictate to western producers what crops will be acceptable for them to grow. Exactly what is behind that?
Why cannot the government assist western producers? Showing this initiative would not only help them to maintain their farms. It would also help Canada's balance of trade and make Canada a stronger trading nation.
The European community and the United States realize that their treasuries cannot continue their farm subsidies and they will be cutting back. In the meantime, Canadian timothy and forage producers will face the full rate expenditure while European and American producers will have support.
We do not have any problem with this half hearted attempt at modifying the Canadian Wheat Board. The shipping cost adjustment is a step that recognizes the reality of modern times and the global marketplace. However, merely readjusting who pays for the cost of shipping through the St. Lawrence seaway does nothing to tackle the real and dangerous problems facing Canadian producers and the inadequacies of the wheat board. It is a minor thing when there are so many major things we need to look at.
Changing cost pooling so that western Saskatchewan and Alberta producers will no longer share the cost of shipping eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba grain from Thunder Bay through the St. Lawrence seaway is acceptable. Why not continue and address the real issue of the needed fundamental changes to the wheat board?
Members will say all the farmers want it. They must have a short memory. It was not too long ago that there were two rallies going on in Regina at the same time: one pro and one con, the one the agriculture minister would not attend.
Why is the government so afraid to face the reality of the nineties and beyond? Why is its policies still stuck in the sixties? Why did the government not use the bill to give producers an opportunity to elect the board of directors? What is wrong with an elected board of directors? Is that too democratic? Is that the problem?
It could be. I base that on things I have seen, such as what happened this morning. Why was the government so fearful of allowing those who know the business to run it? Why does it not allow producers who know the business the best to be in charge? Why does the government always feel it has to get involved in everything? Why does it feel that it will not be done right if it is not done from this place?
The whole thing will change. People will insist that it change rather quickly. If the government believes that will not be the case then it has a very short memory.
I wonder if it would stop to think for a moment, when it looks at operations such as the wheat board and others, why the Reform Party is here. It should stop to analyse why the Reform Party needs to exist if for the last 30 years so-called Liberals and so-called Conservatives had done their jobs. We would not need to be here. Why did all western provinces, particularly rural farmers, decide enough was enough and to send Reformers who had presented to them an idea that made a lot more sense than the status quo?
Once again we have a government bill that pretends to address issues of concern for western producers but in reality is an attempt to hide the failures. This half measure deals with an important issue but it is only a half measure.
When will the government finally face reality and deal with the real problems that exist with the wheat board and the board's inability to accept that producers know what is best, not appointed bureaucrats? The producers, believe it or not, know what is best. Why do we not give them an opportunity to express what they know?
I doubt very seriously whether the bureaucrats making the decisions have half the real experience or knowledge facing most western producers, particularly those in the riding of Wild Rose.
I support Bill C-92. It is a little step in the right direction to which we are getting accustomed. With all their bills we are getting a little tinker here and a little tinker there. The Liberals think they will be the next government, which I doubt seriously. However we will support the bill.
I ask the government and the agriculture minister to go beyond Tinker Bell stuff. There are serious problems out there. For a change the government should try listening to the people instead of dictating to them what will take place.
