These comments are direct quotations from the Hansard
documents.
Jailed Farmers
Mr. Rick Casson (Lethbridge, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, a
travesty of justice is taking place, not in some third world country, not
in a communist dictatorship, not under some oppressive regime, but right
here in Canada.
A group of farmers, the very same people who grow the food we eat, have
been sentenced to go to jail for selling the wheat they grow on their own
land. This unjust situation exists only in western Canada and could not
happen in Quebec, Ontario or the Maritimes.
This is due to the monopoly of the western Canadian Wheat Board, supported
by the Liberal government, the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of
Public Works. The claims the government makes to have the best interests
of farmers at heart ring hollow as 14 farm families prepare to face the
reality of their breadwinners being incarcerated. These farmers should not
be going to jail for doing what farmers in the rest of Canada can do
legally.
I call on the government to end this insanity, to end this extremely
tragic situation, and to bring an end to the monopoly of the western
Canadian Wheat Board. After all, are not all Canadians equal?
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