Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank each of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come up to speak to us today.
Mr. Tait and Ms. Ross, I'd like to direct my first comment and question to you. First of all, I did have an opportunity to read the submission you made. It's, frankly, an incredibly compelling argument you make, the facts you recite.
I want to talk to you first about food sovereignty. When I sit back and think about where we're going, I think about, ultimately, our agricultural system progressing maybe 50 or 60 years from now when there are very few farmers, when large corporations are going to be owning the production facilities. Frankly, there are no assurances that those companies will be Canadian owned. I am concerned, frankly, that Canadians will lose their ability to grow their own food, process their own food, and sell their own food to us as Canadians.
In your submission you made reference to a piece of legislation in the United States, the Livestock Marketing Fairness Act. It was your acknowledgment that President Obama acknowledges the disparity that exists and the lack of competition that arises. Could you talk to us more about that issue and give us some insight on what we might do to address that particular problem?