You talked about the availability of Canadian products regionally. We are seeing products on store shelves that come from California or other places. Without going so far as to pass new legislation, the government could easily encourage distributors not to put Canadian products in competition with foreign products which have to be transported, thereby causing pollution.
In England, labels on products have to show how far they have come. I'm sure Canada will eventually pass legislation of this type in the interest of the environment. Then consumers will be able to tell easily how far products have travelled and will be able to promote more local products.
At the moment, we have Foodland Ontario, which is a very well-known brand. Aliments du Québec is also a well-known brand, but we cannot yet place it on products, because we would have to have separate inventories, because the products cross the border. We have seen that canned asparagus from Canada has virtually disappeared. It now comes from Peru, for similar reasons. The same is true of gherkins, which are imported from India. That is unfortunate, because with Canadian products, we had better quality and food safety.
Generally speaking, most of the products that are recalled are imported. When we lose control of our food supply, we lose control of our heritage. That is why the government must develop an integrated policy covering people who do canning and all other types of food processing. Unless and until we have such a policy, we will have difficulties, because the approach will be too sectoral, and distributors will be allowed to do whatever they choose.