Agriculture committee  All I can say to you is that rumours are rumours, and that wouldn't be the case.

Agriculture committee  I wouldn't call them mistakes made from hedging. In fact, I have to say I'm six weeks into this job, and a lot of these things I'm looking back on. We've had a very volatile market, and when we're giving people forward prices—and these are forward prices—you have to understand that they have to be hedged in the futures markets.

Agriculture committee  I'm vaguely familiar with them.

Agriculture committee  I have no idea.

Agriculture committee  I don't think they do. I don't think the Canadian Wheat Board endorses any organization.

Agriculture committee  I'm not aware of anything. I'm not aware of the sheet you're referring to.

Agriculture committee  We have done a survey. We haven't had the opportunity yet to put it to the board of directors. We will be doing so later this month. I'm sure after that we could contemplate talking about it more publicly, but at this stage it is something that hasn't gone to our board of directors.

Agriculture committee  That is something that the board of directors will have to decide, yes.

Agriculture committee  That's something as well that we need to be talking about with the Canadian Wheat Board directors, but what I can tell you is that the contingency fund is designed to float up and down; it's designed to absorb surpluses and deficits and is designed, I suppose, to be in balance over time.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I was the chief executive officer and managing director of Queensland Sugar Limited from 2000 to March 30 of this year, 2008—about eight years. When I started at Queensland Sugar, it was a new company set up by an agreement with the industry. In the sugar industry in Australia, there are sugar cane farmers and sugar millers, and there's an interplay between them associated with the returns for sales of sugar.

Agriculture committee  I shouldn't comment on a lot of the things you've referred to, other than to say that it might be worth my going through the process that came to my appointment. I was contacted by a search firm that asked me to send my CV to them. I heard back from them that they wanted to talk to me further.

Agriculture committee  My apologies. I'm not trying to waste time. I might be some things, but I'm not technically very competent when it comes to mechanical things.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I'm hearing English.

Agriculture committee  Yes, I understand your accent.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. It's an honour for me to appear before you today as president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Wheat Board. You'll notice that my accent isn't quite the same as yours, but I'm told that across Canada there are varying accents, so mine might eventually fit somewhere in the spectrum.