Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses today for coming. I appreciate that.
There's just something, Mr. Chairman, I feel I should note. Bill C-27, I think it's very fair to say, probably would have passed in the last Parliament if there had been a little more protection in there for grassroots producers. I think that was one of the main stumbling blocks in opposition, and I think that needs to be noted.
There is a question I need to have answered. Going back to the contaminated feed out west, that rendering plant, obviously, wasn't complying with the 1997 feed ban. How long do you think that practice was going on? I mean, did they ever comply? You know, it opens up some questions. I hope they were complying at one time. Have we any idea of just how long they obviously weren't? I don't know who wants to answer that.