Thank you very much.
Thank you for appearing. This is a file that is relatively well-known.
And might I just say at the outset, Dr. Evans, that your work has not gone unnoticed by the committee members, and certainly by the people in this country, as well as our neighbours to the south.
Given that we have taken the lead.... Since the genesis of this issue really had its beginnings--May 2003 is when this really became an issue--we immediately took some measures. Of course, going back to 1997, there were some feed bans initiated both here and in the United States. To give indication that we would be removing--as we had in 2003--all of the SRMs from the human food chain, we moved for complete SRM removal in the animal feed, and we had those regulatory amendments put before the Canadian people in December 2004.
We have now, in 2006, put $80 million to the industry to see this come to fruition. We set a deadline of July 12, 2007. Given that the provinces are partners in this arrangement and given that we have a 64-year arrangement for general purposes in this country, for funding, why is it that we find ourselves running behind on this file? With $80 million and the deadlines clearly defined, why is it that we haven't moved more quickly? There comes a time when consultations must end. Why are we at this juggernaut at this stage of time?