Thank you for your testimony. At a time when things are rather dark for agriculture, it's nice to hear some good news.
Mr. Bjornson, I don't want to get into a debate, but with regard to provincial jurisdictions, the national standards put in place by the Canadian government are often behind conflicts. So we need to be extremely careful here.
However, even if Canada is a very minor player when it comes to the production of biofuels, a commitment is growing. One of the objectives of Quebec's energy policy, for example, is for gas to contain 5 p. 100 ethanol by 2012. Ontario is even more ambitious, it wants to achieve this level by 2007. My own municipality of Victoriaville has just created the Société de développement durable d'Arthabska, and the Municipality of Victoriaville intends to promote the use of renewable energy in its facilities and equipment. I am talking naturally about proven technologies such as geothermics but also biofuels. The idea is gaining popularity, but Canada is a very minor player compared to Brazil and the United States when it comes to ethanol, and compared to Europe when it comes to biofuels.
My question concerns food production and the substantial subsidies available in the United States, particularly for corn, and in Europe.
Can we compete with these countries, if we want to further develop the biofuel industry, when we are at a disadvantage with regard to the subsidies granted for food production? Are we prepared to deal with this challenge?