Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Wheat Board is an organization operated by farmers for farmers. The bill goes against what a majority of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta grain farmers want. The response by the Prime Minister was best said on October 7 in The Globe and Mail:
It's time for the wheat board and others who have been standing in the way to realize that this train is barrelling down the prairie track. You're much better off to get on it than to lie on the tracks because this is going ahead.
The Prime Minister treated our prairie farmers like trash when he made those comments.
The prairie grain farmer has spoken. Shortly we are going to have a vote on this bill, and we appeal to the government members to respect the prairie grain farmers, over 20,000 of whom voted overwhelmingly to keep the Wheat Board. We appeal to the government to respect the wishes of those prairie farmers and withhold support for the bill today.