(Resource News International) -- There's "no way" the Conservative government can pass Bill C-46 before the House of Commons breaks for summer in mid-June, according to NDP MP Pat Martin.

If Martin's correct, that means the Canadian Wheat Board's (CWB) barley marketing monopoly will definitely remain intact at least until the start of the 2008-09 crop year, which begins Aug. 1.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in early March announced he was introducing Bill C-46, legislation designed to end the CWB's single-desk barley marketing monopoly in Western Canada in time for the new growing season.

"There is no way on God's green earth that Bill C-46 is going to be passed for the start of the crop year as Minister Ritz committed," said Martin, the New Democrat who represents Winnipeg's downtown.

A spokesperson for the federal Conservative party said the bill has been put on the parliamentary agenda but added that does not necessarily mean it will be debated. It simply signals that it is one of the bills that could possibly come up for debate.

Even though C-46 has been added to the list of bills to be debated, Martin said May 23 that it's been placed in an "impossible low order on the agenda."

The Conservative spokesperson conceded that C-46 is one of several other bills to be discussed and only after a biofuels bill and a free trade bill have first been addressed.

If the legislation does in fact go undebated before Parliament breaks for summer, it will still be on the agenda when MPs return to Ottawa in the fall, the spokesperson said.

"When the House of Commons resumes in the fall it will be just like it is now. We'll see all the same bills and they will all be in the same stage of the parliamentary process," he said.

If it is discussed, debate can be expected to run on for some time seeing as how feelings about the CWB's role in the barley market run high.

"We've guaranteed Minister Ritz a very rough (time) in Parliament when C-46 does come up. Virtually all of the opposition parties will throw up speakers to drag the debate out if he chooses to pick this fight," Martin said.

Failing that, he added, the Liberals have committed to holding up the bill in the Senate, where they form the majority.

Martin said he would not rule out the possibility of seeing C-46 turned into a confidence motion, meaning failure to pass the bill in Parliament would bring down the government and trigger a federal election.

The Conservative spokesperson declined to comment on the whether or not that is something the government is considering.

Another way to rush the bill through the parliamentary process would be for the Conservatives to invoke an allocation of time motion, allowing the government to limit the amount of sessions in which a bill is allowed to be debated, Martin explained.

"That would be a drastic measure and it would stink of desperation but the Conservatives could go that route," he said.

In the meantime, the ongoing debate about the future of the CWB's barley marketing monopoly continues to cause uncertainty for farmers, Martin said.

Producers in Western Canada are already planting their crops for the new growing season and yet they still don't know what the rules for barley marketing will be, he said.