Agriculture committee  No. That goes back to my strawberry ice cream and chocolate ice cream analogy. It's an opinion poll that tells us who's on this side and who's on that side, but it doesn't really settle the matter. This is a feud that has been going on for probably 50 years, if not longer. We're not going to solve it with a vote.

Agriculture committee  I believe they should have a choice, and I believe that choice starts and ends with their grain trucks. When they have to pay the bills--the fertilizer bills, the fuel bills, the land bills, the mortgages--and they have to fight off the insects and weeds, they have more than earned the right to market that product they have created in any way that they see fit.

Agriculture committee  Well, let me put the question back to you and say that if they're doing such a darn good job, why are they afraid of letting farmers themselves choose and vote with their trucks? If they're half as good and half as popular as their polls and indicators say, there is not going to be a concern for the Wheat Board to compete in the open market environment.

Agriculture committee  A couple of things have come up a number of times concerning what the gentlemen have been saying. They've talked about critical mass and the voluntary system and that we need some government intervention to help out. In this case--the Canadian Wheat Board--the government intervention is not helping out.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely. There's no reason to believe that it can't. All of those pork boards that I mentioned are still operating, and operating viably. I realize what the gentlemen from Quebec are talking about--some of the Quebec experiences. I've looked at these things on an even broader basis.

Agriculture committee  It's certainly looking like it. I don't know if there is a poison pill out there, but I was one of the gentlemen at that Saskatoon meeting. I can't remember who mentioned it, but the Wheat Board was invited, and they refused. The transition committee that you have--they were invited.

Agriculture committee  Fair enough. We know who we're talking about. I was quoting the George Morris Centre study specifically, and it is very easy to compare the levels of investment. Either you have investment or you don't. Yes, we do have investment in the prairie provinces, but it is nowhere near the level it should be, and this is specifically because of the monopoly.

Agriculture committee  Member, sorry. I'm a little rusty with my protocol.

Agriculture committee  I make my living in that dream world, Mr. Easter.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Chairman, I would be glad to answer as many of those questions as I can in the time allotted. Let's start where Mr. Easter left off, with the Wheat Board-sponsored studies that supposedly are legitimate. I've had a good look at those studies and at the Furtan study, which he referred to.

Agriculture committee  Good afternoon to you, committee members. Thank you all for inviting me here to share my thoughts with you on the Canadian Wheat Board. I'd like to start by saying that I'm here not only as the agricultural policy research fellow for the Frontier Centre but, more importantly, as a farmer from southern Manitoba who's running 1,700 acres of land and whose primary source of income is that farm.