This does come back to interprovincial and federal jurisdiction, because we need to find a solution for Canadians. Beyond the U.S.-Canada relationship, this is a concern for Canadians selling to Canadians and selling between provinces. This is why the provinces have a key role in part of this solution and the federal government does on the bankruptcy and solvency component.
After many years of working with the federal government to look at options, from bonding to insurance to pooling, we've found that all of those options are high-cost options and don't necessarily work relative to effectively supporting an industry. As an example, in insurance, 20% of the buyers are not insurable. At any one time, a buyer is operating at five times the value of their liquid assets, so an insurance company would be looking at covering those assets with only what they owe.
Within an insurance framework, the system doesn't function. What is being proposed is that maybe the government would put $25 million into it. As an industry, we are saying that there's no need to put government funds into a system that we know would just add administrative burden and challenges.
The key here is working with the provinces and working at a federal level to create a statutory deemed trust that would enable the produce industry to access what is rightfully theirs in the event of a bankruptcy. That would be focused on a very narrow scope in looking at the accounts receivable in the sale of the produce and/or any assets derived from the sale of produce during the bankruptcy. It's very narrow and very focused, and it would allow produce sellers who can't access their fresh produce—because it's gone. It's perishable and it's gone through the system in a bankruptcy. But the provinces play a key role here also.