Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thanks to everyone here for coming today. I've only got seven minutes; I wish I had 30. There are a lot of questions here.
I am a beef producer myself, and I totally support this ban. I think it's long overdue, but I do have some concerns. I'll ask some questions and get the answers.
Mr. Evans, some of the first ones that come to mind are these. We've been at this for over three years, and I appreciate the work involved, but as a farmer, as a politician, I'm getting worried. We keep talking about the July 12 date, and of course that's the date when everything's got to be done, but another date that hasn't come up here today is two months from today, May 1. My understanding is that for bagged feed and what have you, we've pretty well got to have this ban in place and working by that date to make sure that feed is used up. I'd like some comment on that.
Another comment that I'd like you to touch on, and I believe it was made in either Saskatchewan or Manitoba.... I find it hard to fathom why they're getting so close and still going on, but they made the comment that here we are in the dying days of negotiations and they don't even know the number of dollars in place. It seems to me when you're negotiating with someone, surely the costs, the allocation of funds, might come up.
I am not sure which one of the gentlemen raised that, so I'd like some discussion on that.
Mr. Preston or Mr. Brooks, you said you may have to store some of the SRMs and what have you until everything is in place, and I can understand that, but to keep this stuff segregated, how much capacity do you have? Do you think you have enough? I'd like a few comments on that, because you don't want to be looking to build storage at the last minute.
Going back to the last comments on technology by Mr. Schellenberger and Mr. Horner, I get the opinion you feel maybe both levels of government should be covering all that cost. I'd like some comments on how you do it.
The small plant issue comes into this. You made the comment, Mr. Schellenberger, about the plants and the producer having to bear the cost of this. Usually, it's the producer who bears the cost, but in this case, small plant versus big one, my fear is that the small ones aren't going to be able to afford to get rid of it in the same manner. So I'd like some comments on that.
I know it's a lot of questions, but I'd like to hear the answers.