Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Minister and guests, thank you very much for being here today.
Just to quote Mr. Easter here, or to use his words...and it goes back to a comment that you made about the inaction on this file in the last ten years. You know, while he and his government sat idle for years, basically agriculture and rural Canada burned, burned around us.
So I'd like you to talk a little bit more, Mr. Minister, about where might we have been if we'd have moved on this file ten years ago. And maybe you could talk a little bit about where we might have been ahead, as far as acreage or dollars in agriculture--