I call this meeting to order.
Welcome, everybody, to the second leg of our cross-country tour on the APF hearings. We did western Canada last week, and we're kicking it off here in Truro.
This was the hometown of Madame Couture-Nowak, who was shot at Virginia Tech. She used to teach at the agriculture college here. In respect, I thought it would be appropriate if we observed a minute of silence in remembrance of her.
[A moment of silence observed]
Thank you.
I want to welcome to the table today a number of witnesses: Frazer Hunter of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture; Chan Wiseman of the Newfoundland and Labrador Young Farmers' Forum; from the Chicken Farmers of Canada, David Fuller, who we see often in Ottawa; from the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' Association, Andrew Bishop; and David Ernst is here from the Nova Scotia Cranberry Growers Association.
We welcome all of you to the table. In light of the short amount of time we have together, I would ask that you respect the ten-minute timeframe for your opening remarks. You can even be shorter than that, if possible.
With that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Hunter.