Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
There's an aggregate measure of support, which I believe you are all familiar with, and it indicates that for Canada we could spend approximately $4.3 billion in support for agriculture, but we only spend $2 billion. I want to plant the seed, so to speak, with respect to what you may think about that in view of today's Washington Post story entitled, “Congress studiously ignores the staggering waste in agricultural subsidies”. The Senate is likely to pass the Farm Bill this Friday at $288 billion. The question that's indicated in the article is that this is notwithstanding the fact that crop prices are surging and farmers are doing very well. They go on to mention all sorts of things. For example, the U.S. sugar industry is getting a 10-year $1 billion program to prop up sugar prices in advance of NAFTA coming into full effect so they can bypass the Mexican market.
When we talk about an issue of this magnitude.... I'd really like to hear what you have to say, from your industry's perspective, on your ability to compete in product development, to get support, and to then export, in general, internationally in the weighted WTO system that allows this to proliferate.