I'll try to be quick this time.
Having visited pork slaughterhouses, for example, I understand that there is a national standard when we export out of the country, and that there has to be the same meat standard from each part of the country. Other slaughter facilities that don't export have their own provincial standards, I believe. Is there a standard between provinces? That's the first question.
As well, in British Columbia right now, as you know, the government is consolidating and changing the act to tighten up on slaughter facilities for our meat packing plants, which is hitting the small producers hard. I'm talking about someone who slaughters a cow, sells it on the market, and travels around to different farms to do that. It's really hitting people in my riding who have these really small operations.
From your experience, has there been this question in other parts of Canada? Is there somewhere I can go to find out if any flexibility has been built in here, in some of the provinces, to enable the small-time producer to continue slaughtering without having to drive 500 kilometres to a major facility that may already be overtaxed, putting that person out of business?
I hope you understand my question. Thank you.