Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Once again, I really appreciate the witnesses taking their time to present their perspective on this agreement. That's exactly why the committee is reaching out to Canadians and key stakeholders: to get their feedback, to also stimulate discussions on how to take advantage of this in the time that we're going to be ratifying the agreement.
Unfortunately, like all parliamentary committees, Mr. Fiander, most of our meetings are in Ottawa, but we do budget for witnesses to appear either in Ottawa or when we do try to travel outside of Ottawa. The number of planned meetings, I think, is six to eight, and they'll primarily be in Ottawa. Right now, our first visit outside of Ottawa is to Atlantic Canada. We would love to come to every provincial capital, but we try to also pick an area where witnesses can be flown in cost effectively.
Speaking of Newfoundland, I previously had the great pleasure, as we were saying last night at the reception, of sailing aboard HMCS St. John's and taking part in a fisheries patrol mission, and then later taking the late-Lieutenant Governor Maxwell House, who just passed last month, on a tour of the outports. As we were saying, it was François and Harbour Breton, some really spectacular people and locations.
I'll repeat the numbers I gave to Mr. Etchegary this morning. The processing industry, which had hundreds of plants, is now down to under 100, but those plants are modern, competitive, and have highly trained workers. You've heard some of the numbers on the tariff rates that will be eliminated with the European deal. The processed seafood products actually have the highest tariff rates, a 20% tariff rate. Don't you foresee that as a benefit to the plants that still remain in Newfoundland?