Thank you.
The reference to barriers there is a reflection of the fact that we are cognizant... Again, the CFIA inherited 13 acts and 40-plus regulations when it was created in 1997. Some of that legislation is quite dated. Some of it is quite prescriptive, written in a different time, when risks were different from what they are today.
We're very cognizant of the efforts of this committee in its cross-country meetings last year with industry groups about regulatory burden. There is the reality of the report of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that there is a need on the part of CFIA to try to further adapt its regulatory approaches to ones that are less prescriptive and more outcome-based, and that reduce the burden on producers and individual enterprises, particularly small business enterprises.
The current minister is a former champion of the paper burden reduction exercise. He's made it extremely clear to the agency that we will be held to a very high standard in that regard. We have initiated programming to make sure that we can meet the paper reduction burdens the government is looking for.
The issue around risk speaks to the fact that if the regulatory burden forces people to try to find ways around the regulations, then we're not achieving the regulatory outcome. That in itself creates risk.