Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In answer to your question, this particular regulatory package that we're talking about was not put in place to play hardball with anybody. It's simply to put in a sustainable system that will improve the business environment on the marketplace to the benefit of the grower, the grower-shipper, the wholesaler, and all the people who are buying or selling in our marketplace.
You mentioned the United States. Actually, we're quite fearful that if this does not go through, we may have a problem with the United States in trade back and forth. I will elaborate a little bit.
Because we have this particular inspection system in Canada, along with a couple of other complementary programs, the Americans recognized us, in a way, as a preferred nation in trading. When fresh fruit and vegetable exporters export to the United States, as Canadian exporters we can avail ourselves of the services they provide under AMS and PACA, the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. They can get a comparable inspection service and also lodge disputes in their system without having to pay double the amount of the claim, as other countries may have to do. We're quite fearful that if we don't strengthen our systems here in Canada, there is the possibility that the Americans will become increasingly uneasy with having us as a trading nation and recognizing our system as being totally comparable to theirs.