Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank you all for your testimony.
Ms. Gravel, you made some very interesting remarks that raise questions in my mind about the decisions that governments make at any level. A government will often talk from both sides of its mouth at the same time. They want to foster competition, to make sure that consumers have good products, that producers get good prices and so forth. At the same time, they adopt legislation or regulations full of loopholes that clearly put spokes in the wheels of producers, of the industries and of the consumers.
What you just said about organic certification is an obvious example of this. I feel that the same applies to the "Product of Canada" claim. The committee studied the matter and determined that for a product to be labelled "Product of Canada", 85% of the content of that food product has to be Canadian. The government said that it had carried out wide consultation before setting the percentage at 98%. Today, there is no one left who can qualify for the "Product of Canada" label. I do not want to go further into this matter, but I think that it does present an interesting parallel.
You emphasized the fact that this affects the credibility of the organic industry in Canada and Quebec. Moreover, how can we be sure that the products we buy are really organic, and that the certification is properly carried out? Ultimately, this has to do with consumer confidence. When she sees the logo, she decides to buy the product because it is certified organic.
I put a question to the House of Commons last April 28. The Minister of State for Agriculture answered my question. I do not know what the Minister of Agriculture thinks of it, because he was not the one who answered me. I asked him to tell me about the regulations concerning foreign products that can end up on our shelves and have the same logo as the products that are certified in Canada, but that have been certified according to the standards of some other country, like South Korea, for instance. He answered me, and I quote:
[...] it is important to have standards that are aligned with the international system. We must have consistent standards in our respective countries. The ISO 17011 standard will be implemented to ensure that everyone knows where we are headed in this matter.
Are you comfortable with this answer?