Thank you, Mr. Easter, for your interventions. There are quite a number of questions there.
I will begin with Ms. Weatherill. She certainly has the capability and the capacity to do the job set out before her. She has the full cooperation of all parties involved, so at this point there's no sense that there would even be need for subpoenas and so forth. Full cooperation is expected. Her report will definitely be made public. I'll have someone read it to you when she tables it, Mr. Easter.
The Canadian confidence in foodstuffs, as I understand it, I would argue that question most vociferously. When you look at one of the indicators, the share trading value of McCain's is right back up to where it was before the incident last summer. So I think Canadian consumers are showing great respect to the job done by McCain's, to the excellent job done by the food safety people from CFIA, to public health at the provincial and federal levels, and are more than willing to get back into that marketplace. So I guess I would argue that point, in that the issues you're discussing really aren't based on anything solid.
I had the great opportunity to be at a round table in your neck of the woods last Friday, Mr. Easter. All three maritime ministers, as well as representatives from every farm commodity, as well as the agricultural alliances of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia were there, and the basic message out of that two-hour-long meeting was that there are challenges but they create opportunities. They're showing farmers stepping up to meet those challenges by embracing that opportunity and thinking outside the box, getting on top of what needs to be done. The great message coming out of that is a renewal of agricultural sectoral agreements on working together. We haven't seen that since the turn of the century, when a barn raising was a communal function. Farmers and producers across Canada are starting to talk in terms of how to integrate their systems to the betterment of all of the systems. I think that's a tremendous opportunity for us to move ahead.
When you talk about farm job losses, of course we're concerned, and we are analyzing that report. I have some concerns as to the way that's being reported. In my department we can't seem to make the numbers add up the same as Statistics Canada did. I'm asking for a briefing from them on how they arrived at those numbers. Of course the indices that are used, North America wide, incorporate other industries outside of agriculture, and we'll wait to see if that's the case here.
Having said that, any job loss is a concern to this government. That's why we put things in the budget like the billion-dollar package for communities that will be in peril. That's why we have a number of issues in there. I talked to Farm Credit's Greg Stewart last week, and he tells me, of the billions of dollars they have invested in the farm gate, less than half of one percent is considered in trouble--less than half of one percent, Mr. Easter. Of the poll they did that I mentioned, 4,300 producers Canada-wide, region-to-region, a full 25%, one in four, say they're going to expand their operation. That's good news. That shows they see the strength out there in the farming sector beyond what governments have to offer. Farmers are looking within themselves and within their region and within their communities to build a stronger farm gate, and I welcome that. We're here to support them at every juncture.