Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have one question. However, I would like to come back to the bonding system you spoke of, Ms. Dutton. I want to be sure I understand.
The purpose of the bonding system is to protect producers and ensure that the companies buying the grain are creditworthy and capable of paying the producer. That is the purpose of the bonding system.
You say that the companies producers sell to have no bonding system. In my opinion, the issue is really that we have a free market system. A producer is aware of the risk he runs if he sells to a business that is not necessarily bonded.
However, you talked about an insurance system and of the some 2% in investments that would represent, as opposed to setting money aside to be bonded, as is currently being asked of you.
Are you talking about a private or public insurance system? The two systems are quite different. Under a private insurance system, the costs go up considerably when there is even one accident. When costs go up, the person at the bottom--namely, the producer--is the one that ends up paying them. Even if the company pays some of them, it's clear that most of the costs will be passed on to the producer. They can't be passed on to the buyer, because it's a question of staying competitive. So there is an issue there, if you're talking about private insurance.
So, I would like you, on behalf of your company, to present your personal vision of how this could work--in other words, what you would like in the way of a bonding system.