Thank you.
Mr. Dessureault, you mentioned the competitive approach by the American government and suggested that we adopt the same approach in Canada. Clearly, we have to play hardball.
This whole idea is that we're not competing against producers, rather we're competing in governments. I think this is a question and I've thought about it. How do we get tough? If we do, do we have the support of industry?
That's a question, because often the answer is that if you get tough with the Americans, our producers are going to suffer. Yet in a report we brought out, I think Larry's last recommendation was on food security, and we had one there on institutional buying.
The answers we always get from the government and the minister are that we have these agreements and we can't overstep our bounds because we've got equal access; we have to give equal access to products coming from outside the country. It seems we do that in all sectors, and it seems it's been happening for a long time. I know that even before I got into this business, I asked why we were always playing by the rules; nobody else is.
My question is this. If the minister and the department and the government decided to get tough with the Americans in this case or others, would industry stand by them? If so, what are the concrete steps? We've talked a lot. We go around and around the table, but what are the concrete steps in the immediate future that we can put into place so that folks don't go out of business in the next two or three months? Is it that we should waive the inspection fees? Is it some injection, and what kind, while we look at long-term solutions?
I'll just throw that out and see if we can get some answers before time runs out. Thank you.