International Trade committee  To put it in perspective, in round numbers, at $600 a head, we'd need to market approximately four million head of cattle per year, whatever that works out to. That's about $2.4 billion in additional value from having exports. It's not theoretical for us. We know what happens wh

International Trade committee  We'd really like to get more cattle on the ground. I think that's the main thing holding us back. We have great access now with CPTPP, with the CETA, with the U.S. The biggest complaint we get around the world about Canadian beef is why isn't there more of it. As I say, competi

International Trade committee  Yes. Anyway, every farmer has to look at the piece of ground they're on. What is the maximum value of that land? Is it in agriculture? Is it outside of agriculture? What sector is it? Cattle are moving, and to be a cow-calf producer, to produce those calves takes a lot of lan

International Trade committee  Maritime beef production is fairly small compared with that of the rest of Canada. We have about 40,000 mother cows, beef cows, in the Maritimes region. They have a Maritimes beef strategy to get that number to 60,000. On a percentage, a 50% increase is huge. Access to those gra

International Trade committee  You're right. There are not as many farm kids as there used to be. Maybe out of seven or eight, one of them wanted to stay on the farm and the others wanted to get off. Now there are fewer of them, and they know it's hard work. We're in a situation now in Canada.... There is a s

International Trade committee  I think very much there is both on farm and in processing. I think that guys like Bob who operate facilities are constantly trying to innovate. I've been to Bob's place. I've been to a lot of producers' places. They're just doing things differently. The machinery that's available

International Trade committee  There hasn't been so much on the veterinary products that are used, although that's an area that has improved over the last 10 years. We have seen Health Canada and the FDA working more closely to try to have that harmonization. With respect to the agreement itself, per se, I wou

International Trade committee  It can be random. All trucks are subject to that possibility.

International Trade committee  Yes, I think we are starting to see it this year. It's early with the TPP, but if I look at some of the numbers, I see that our exports to Japan up to April are up 87% in value. Where are we getting that beef from? Instead of shipping as many live cattle into the U.S., maybe we

International Trade committee  If we could get the labour to process that, that would be great, too.

International Trade committee  Thanks, Bob. Going into this negotiation, as Bob laid out, we kind of liked NAFTA the way it was. It was good for us. We had good, unlimited access to the United States. There were a few little issues here and there, but for the most part, we went into that negotiation with the

Industry committee  I agree with you that there have been many initiatives over the years. We've always been supportive of the initiatives, and when something is renamed we will continue to be supportive of their continuing to try. You gave a good list, and we've always had a good long list of iss

Industry committee  Absolutely.

Industry committee  I think where it needs to come into that is on the point that when the regulators evaluate either these regulations or policies, they have to take the competitive aspect into consideration. I'm not sure that Health Canada or CFIA necessarily think it's part of their role to ensur

Industry committee  Any regulation, any regulator...there would need to be an examination of the cost versus the benefit—