Thank you.
When we look at supply management systems that are in place now, because of the three distinct pillars that are supported by the government and the producers of those commodities, the producers have the ability to negotiate on behalf of all producers and to be able to expect a return on their investment. That is our business risk management portion—those three pillars under supply management. But I must emphasize that when you take out any one of those three pillars, you no longer have a supply management system.
If we do not have restrictive import controls, we cannot properly plan domestic production, taking imports into account. When we look at planning domestic productions, we have to take into account Canada's agreed upon level of imports from other countries. Unless we know that we have a solid import barrier and we know what production is coming in, the amount coming in from outside will go up and down so erratically that we will never be able to plan a stable market. Our market will go up and down as it did in the past.
The important thing to recognize is that those three pillars under supply management allow supply management to be a business risk management tool. I think that's the key. We have to have those three pillars solidly in place. We're asking the government to recognize those pillars and supply management under a business risk management pillar because it is a supply management business risk management tool.