International Trade committee  I would just echo what Jean-Marc said. There is a discrepancy between what our scientists tested versus what Chinese officials tested. We need to get those people together, talk about the technicalities of the test, do a joint testing of samples that are common and agree on what's in there and what's not.

International Trade committee  I would say that most modern-day trade agreements, whether it be CPTPP or the new NAFTA, or even going back as far as the WTO international rules around this, are all based on science. Every country has an opportunity and a responsibility to inspect product coming in, but their decision-making process should be based on science and on food safety issues that are legitimate.

International Trade committee  Yes, the second biggest producer would be Australia, and they produce two million or maybe three million tonnes. They're not a big player. Canada is by far the dominant canola producer in the world. The European Union grows a lot of double-zero rapeseed, but again most of that is for domestic use.

Agriculture committee  I guess in the immediate term here there's the uncertainty, the risk of product in the bin. As I said earlier, cash flow is going to be the most immediate concern to farmers. It's not the only answer but it's the thing that we should do, and we should consider addressing that immediately.

Agriculture committee  That's a great question. I hear directly from farmers. We actually have the cash advance operations in western Canada, for the most part, through our association. They call me directly. They call our staff directly, and they are very concerned. They're worried. They don't know what's happening.

Agriculture committee  Yes. Farmers at this time of year are making their seeding plans based on long-term rotations of crops on their farms for sustainability reasons. Farmers are typically running a rotation of about one-third canola and two-thirds other grasses, like wheat and barley, durum and other crops, to make sure their farms are sustainable.

Agriculture committee  No. They make a contract for delivery. Once they deliver it and they hand it off to a company like Richardson or Viterra, it's purchased in the country. Then the farmer normally gets paid at that time after they have delivered it and dropped it into the elevator system where it goes off to the export markets from there.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  I guess the short-term impact is that with the 10 million tonnes that are in the system already, there are existing customers out there. We do have other customers, Canadian domestic, U.S., Japan. China is not in, and that's about a four and a half million tonne seed concern. Theoretically, if we go forward without China, we can expect to have four and a half million tonnes of seed that we don't have a home for.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today with you to provide a canola farmer's perspective on the market access challenges with canola seed exports to China. China's decision to suspend Richardson International's and Viterra's registration, and its move to stop buying our canola seed has created significant concern and uncertainty throughout the canola value chain and particularly for canola farmers.

Environment committee  My comments were specific to canola and our competitors, which is soybeans, globally. When we look at that, we don't see any carbon taxes from South American or the U.S. soybeans, which are huge competitors for canola, so that's where my comments were focused. That's what makes us competitive or not against those competitors in the global market.

Environment committee  The world is a very hungry place, and it's getting bigger on the food side, so we're very much focused on food and fuel. We're there to feed the world, and the world is getting larger and hungrier.

Environment committee  I don't really know.

Environment committee  Yes. We think that on fuel in particular, farmers should be exempt. There may be other ways to exempt farmers, but those get very difficult to find. It's embodied in machinery. It's embodied everywhere. What we're really asking is, if a carbon tax comes in, that farmers be rewarded for credit, for the good work they've done and the good work they will continue to do.

Environment committee  I put it down to differences in philosophy. There are some groups that are against corporate entities, multinationals. They are against big business. They are against many things, and it's usually philosophical, right? Those are the ones who would be demanding policies and changes in the climate, etc.