Having regard to the size of production, it is our view, I believe, that Quebec should acquire infrastructure enabling its pork industry to be as competitive as that of the rest of Canada and North America. I believe we agree that 11 facilities in Quebec is too many. However, even if we created a committee, we wouldn't agree on which facilities should be chosen.
At Olymel, we've tried operating with our slaughtering volume, but we've come up against difficulties. They had nothing to do with what we wanted, the government or anything else. In accordance with an arbitrary decision, we're therefore proceeding with a restructuring.
In our opinion, the problem is also that we're dealing with a lack of competitiveness related to the size of the facilities. We can avoid dealing with this problem now, but it will catch up to us. We run the risk of adopting solutions that will become inappropriate over the medium and long terms. The infrastructure and its size generate economies, which small facilities are unable to achieve, being scattered here and there over the province, often even outside production areas. We're not claiming that the only solution is to have one big slaughterhouse in Quebec. We're saying that, if Quebec doesn't establish competitive structures, it will be caught by the competition.
We're already in that situation. We can see it from our own comparative analysis with the Red Deer people. The Maple Leaf people are doing their own analysis because they've decided to refocus on value-added at a single facility where slaughtering volume will be increased to 90,000 hogs a week.
So that means that, within the industry in Quebec, we're seeing that we need to acquire competitive infrastructure. That doesn't necessarily have to be done next week or next year, but we have to find a way to get there. That's why we're consulting each other and working with the representatives of the federation and the UPA. We have to think of a way in which, together, we could develop a model for partnership, perhaps even risk-sharing. That could involve closing certain smaller facilities. I know that's never nice to hear for someone who represents a region. Nevertheless, if we don't do it, the market will force us to do it, one after the other.
I think we have a problem in Quebec and that we have to address it. We especially shouldn't hide under a blanket.