Good afternoon. Thank you for appearing. This is a very timely subject, given that we've just had a budget delivered and some new programming announced.
I'm going to direct my questions first to Mr. Toews and to Mr. Schlegel, and then perhaps to the three of you in terms of the three industries that are here today.
Mr. Toews, you mentioned in your presentation to us today that the viability of the industry would be extremely vulnerable if trade action were to occur, largely due to the fact that half of our production goes outside the country, particularly south. During the crisis from 2003 to 2005, there was a great effort made by both your industry and the government to increase our slaughter capacity. To some relative success, that was accomplished, but now we're seeing that capacity not being utilized because farmers have chosen to send their beef south. Are we not setting ourselves up for another disaster if something were to happen again? Is the industry as shortsighted as I might think it is, in the fact that it is allowing this to happen? Even though there may be a dollar or two more made by doing that, should we not be boxing this beef and sending it south?
We have tried to help your industry. Prior to 1993, there wasn't much interest in the cattle industry being involved in programming. The cattle industry was pretty independent. I know the industry quite well. I know that in the past they have frowned at us helping other sectors, but they found that their independence came to a point where they could no longer sustain the losses without government intervention. Where do you see your industry on this issue going forward?