In my opinion, the Canadian Wheat Board is an working tool for farmers. Let me tell you a little story, to put the issue into perspective.
Because my father was 44 years old when I was born, we often had differences of opinion, given the generation gap. We both worked on the farm. The time came for us to replace a withering tool and some old tools with newer, faster and better performing ones available on the market. After talking about it for a year or two, my father went out and bought a new piece of equipment. However, when he came home, I realized that he had bought the exact same old model. He observed that it would save us time, since we would now have two identical pieces of equipment.
A year later, I bought the farm from him. The first thing I did was to go and buy some modern equipment. My father said he would never use it. In deference to his wishes, I kept the old equipment so that he could use it. The next morning, I hitched up the new piece of equipment to my tractor. My father reluctantly gave it a go and later admitted to me: Son, you were right: we have to change with the times.
In this era of global markets, we need to ask ourselves if our competitors -- for example, the United States and Brazil -- have better performing marketing tools than we do. Are we impeding our own growth? If we fail to renew our marketing tool, will Canadian producers be adversely affected in the medium and long term?