Finance committee  I'd just like to add a small point. There's been a lot of criticism of the railways for not moving the grain in 2013 and 2014. I'd just like to make the point that they moved 18% more grain than the previous year. It wasn't so much a transportation issue. It was a logistical issue where the grain companies couldn't deliver and they decided to gouge.

Finance committee  Correct.

Finance committee  The key recommendation from my point of view for grain is that you'd have to clean house at the CTA. The place is too polluted with the railways views. I'll give you a very simple example. We had our little elevator, and we shipped about 25 to 30 cars. We were not big enough to get the railway's attention, and so we got producers in the area together and we said, “Okay we'll do about 1,000 cars”.

Finance committee  Yes, I'll try. There are a few places in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and I believe two places in Manitoba, where you can go from one railway to another, but you have to traverse the other province's railway. It's like a capital monopoly, but the railways didn't allow it because it's their tracks.

Finance committee  That's a great question and it's a very simple answer. You put it into rail. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I know we're going to have this argument of whether the carbon tax is beneficial or not, but just think of this for a second. We're shutting our rail lines down so we can move commodities by truck, which are 12 times less efficient, and nobody is squawking, nobody is saying anything.

Finance committee  The only thing I'd like to add as a taxpayer is that there is essentially at least $400 million that's not on the books. I am disappointed and, certainly, I can't speak for them either, but I'm certainly hoping that they do the right thing. I hate to say this, but as a farmer I'm beginning to maybe walk around with Linus in the black cloud.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Weir. It was basically gutted. I actually got a payment for the 2014 crop. Basically, the program is half of what it used to be, because they just keep taking eligible expenses out and reducing the coverage. The first 15% you lose is just gratis. Let's just call it a premium.

Finance committee  Sorry. I knew this would happen. I'll try to use an example. You're probably saying, well, what does all of this have to do with finance? I want to use the example of AgriStability. We have a situation in which the grain coming off this year is fusarium-infected. It's not high-quality grain.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to speak. The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance is a voluntary prairie-wide organization of grain farmers who recognize the value of collective marketing, the independent and impartial quality assurance provided by the Canadian Grain Commission, and the importance of public plant breeding.