Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Minister, for coming in today.
I can tell you that the farmers in my riding--and across Manitoba when I was travelling around last week--are very appreciative of the job you're doing. The announced changes to CAIS, the commitment to replacing CAIS has been extremely well received. The cover crop program that you announced really comes into play for our farmers across southern Manitoba and into Saskatchewan, as well, who had flood damage last year and this year. The commitment to disaster assistance is also something that farmers want to see. They want to see that decoupled and delinked from CAIS.
One thing that keeps coming up, though, as I travel around talking to farmers--and I am a farmer--is how well we're doing from the competitiveness side in dealing with our competitors in the United States and around the world. Their access to pharmaceuticals, to animal health products, to herbicides and pesticides...they're priced a lot cheaper than they are here in Canada. Own-use import permits to bring in things like ivermectin, like glysophates, are of a concern to agriculture in general.
So I was wondering if the department is looking at that and how we can make sure that our producers stay on an even playing field when dealing with their competitors in the global market.