Finance committee  In western Canada labour is in short supply. The shortage is broad and applies across many different sectors, such as agriculture, as we heard just a minute ago. For us I think it's important to be able to obtain some of the temporary labour on a consistent basis, but also to be

Finance committee  It absolutely is, especially in the feeding industry. It's a labour-intensive industry, and all of western Canada is short of labour in that industry.

Finance committee  I have a hard time pointing to what we could do to directly prevent a situation like this. Having said that, I think the important part is that inspectors are vigilant and that producers are vigilant when they produce cattle to be harvested at plants such as this, which they are.

Finance committee  When you have well-trained inspectors, it's obviously helpful to food safety. That's a pretty broad statement, but I think an accurate one.

Finance committee  We are working on a strategy to assure consumers that our food will be safe. The XL situation was a small situation from a plant that had good practices in the past. Something happened. We don't know exactly what the issues were, but they are being addressed as we speak and as we

Finance committee  Go ahead.

Finance committee  I think it's very important to note that we asked for the legacy fund to be extended, and so far that hasn't happened, although we're still working on it and confident that it will be reinstated in some measure. The other issue has to do with the confidence of consumers. That's

Finance committee  I think we're on the road to creating some benefits around that. Before the clusters came into being, universities would build small silos and work within them, so at times research would be done on a certain issue, and it would be repeated without anybody knowing about it. Of c

Finance committee  Might I ask our general manager of research to join me in answering some of these questions?

Finance committee  Yes, it is, and the focus has to be on working with domestic products, domestic marketing, and also with working with products globally and international trade. I think it's important to note that an animal, when it is processed, is pieced out. You sell the pieces. You don't sell

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  Thank you, and thank you for the opportunity to present to you today. My name is Martin Unrau and I am the president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which represents over 80,000 beef producers in Canada. Also with me is Andrea Brocklebank, who is a research manager for